


Running With The Wolves

by EmrysTheMerlin



Series: Running With The Wolves [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, BAMF Stiles, F/F, F/M, Fem Stiles, Gen, Hurt Stiles, Multi, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 04:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 32,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15307284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmrysTheMerlin/pseuds/EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: Running with wolves is a dangerous occupation. Stiles wouldn't have it any other way.





	1. Winter Formal

**Author's Note:**

> One shot collection for my other story Memories.

Stiles really didn’t want to go to Winter Formal. For one she didn’t have a date. Lydia would probably laugh in her face if she asked her, at least for an actual date. Stiles had long ago figured out that it didn’t matter to her what you have in your pants, it mattered what you have in your heart and in your head. She’d been crushing on Lydia for a while now. But Lydia was straight as an arrow, and only had eyes for Jackson for some reason. So Stiles was more than a bit annoyed when Scott came up to her begging for her to go to Winter Formal to help him distract Coach Finstock so he could have a fun night with the daughter of someone who wanted to kill him. Stiles eventually agreed after Scott said that Allison had convinced Lydia to go with Stiles as a friend. Plus Scott was too much of a puppy dog to say no to for long. So here she was sitting next to Lydia at the table watching as she stared after Jackson as he ran out of the gym. Stiles sighed and stood brushing off her lavender skirt and blowing a strand of her short hair out of her face. 

“Come on. Let’s go get you Jackson back, you beautiful intelligent dummy.” Lydia stared at her for a moment before grinning. She stood and glanced around before pulling Stiles into a hug. 

“Thanks.” Stiles grinned and they split up. It wasn’t until about ten minutes later that Stiles realized how fantastically bad that idea had been. Unfortunately she didn’t realize this until she was running across the lacrosse field knowing there was no way she would get to Lydia before Peter Hale did. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stiles skidded across the field as Lydia fell unconscious and covered in her own blood. She tried to reach out to see if the redhead was even still alive but Peter got in her way. He was crouched over Lydia in some perverse mockery of protection. Stiles’ expression hardened, hiding the fear she knew he could probably smell. 

“She had nothing to do with this!” Peter crept forwards one hand wandering under Stiles chin forcing her to look up at him and away from her friend. 

“I know but she does now.” Stiles glared at Peter who had the audacity to smile. 

“Why her?!” Peter shrugged claws emerging under Stiles chin as he forced her to stand back up. 

“She was in the way. I needed you.” Stiles eyes went wide and confusion was clear in their whiskey depths but there was no waver to her voice as her eyes darted back to Lydia. 

“Why?” Peter pressed his claws closer to her chin forcing her attention back to him. 

“To find Derek.” The confusion was back on her face. 

“How the hell would I know where he is? Isn’t it your job to keep track of your pack!” Peter raised his hand to Stiles’ face and she couldn’t hide her flinch but he merely brushed his knuckles against her cheek gently. 

“You really are the smart one aren’t you Stiles. You know how to find Derek. And if you don’t I’ll finish what I started and kill your little redhead friend.” Stiles glanced at Lydia one more time before she spoke her eyes never leaving the bloodstained redhead. 

“Scott’s phone. I think Derek knew he would be taken that night. Scott’s phone disappeared that night too. I think he took it.” Peter frowned. 

“How does that help us find him?” Stiles’ brow scrunched slightly before she remembered that he’d been in a vegetative state for quite some time. 

“God your old, all phones have GPS now. You need a computer to track it. And his username and password. Which I don’t know.” She half expected Peter to rip her throat out for the old comment but he drew his hand away from her chin, never even drawing blood. Then he laughed, it was dark and more of a chuckle, but it was definitely a laugh. 

“Don’t lie to me Stiles. You know everything about him. And you’re going to help me find him. Or she dies.” Peter started to walk away. 

“She’s gonna bleed out on the field if you don’t let me get her help.” Peter paused and nodded.

“Granted. Call her lover boy, that’s all you get.” Stiles nodded and pulled out her phone. It took a moment to find Jackson’s number but she managed it her hands shaking. He answered on the second ring. 

“Jackson, Lydia is hurt. Come to the lacrosse field and whatever you do don’t tell my dad you talked to me please.” With no further explanation Stiles hung up and followed Peter off the field. He led her over to the deserted parking lot and made her dig her keys out of the tiny purse she was somehow still carrying. He hopped into the passenger side and she sighed kicking off her heels which were caked with mud. Peter smiled at her as she threw her shoes and purse into the back of the jeep and started the car. He directed her onto a road that led to the outskirts of Beacon Hills. 

 

They road in silence for a while Peter occasionally directing Stiles to turn one way or the other. Finally Peter seemed to find the silence oppressive. 

“Come on don’t be so down. If she lives she’ll be much more powerful than she ever was.” Stiles rolled her eyes. 

“Yeah, I’ll just have two friends wanting to rip my throat out once a month.” Peter shrugged.

“Well because she’s a girl she’ll want to do it twice a month.” Stiles scoffed and turned left onto a path into the preserve. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to end up scattered around the preserve like Laura Hale.

Peter directed her to pull up next to a silver Prius parked in the middle of the woods. Peter hopped out of the car and opened Stiles’ door offering her a hand. She stared at him for a moment. 

“You’re not wearing shoes, don’t want you to cut your feet.” Stiles really had no choice but to accept his hand, he was blocking her only way out of her jeep anyway. He wrapped an arm around her and carried her easily over to the Prius. He set her down on the hood and spoke. 

“Wait here.” Stiles did as she was told, she wasn’t used to doing that but it seemed the best way to not get killed. But silence never sat well with her so she spoke as Peter dug a set of keys out of his pocket and opened the trunk. 

“Whose car is this?” She realized she shouldn’t have asked when she heard a loud fleshy thump behind the car. But Peter spoke again as he rummaged in the trunk. 

“It was my nurse’s.” Stiles really should just keep her mouth shut but she couldn’t help it.

“What happened to her?” Peter pulled a bag out of the trunk and grabbed the arm of a body. As he dragged the body around the car Stiles felt bile rise in her throat. He carelessly dropped the arm and smiled a sharp toothed grin at her.

“I got better.” Peter set the bag next to Stiles. 

“Get working. I’ll be back in a minute.” Stiles watched horrified as Peter hefted the body of his nurse and ran out into the woods. She glanced down at her hands, which were shaking. She glanced over at her jeep. She could try to make a break for it. But she also needed to know where Derek was. There was no way she and Scott could take on hunters on their own and Derek was better than Peter. She had no doubt that Derek wasn’t really on the psychotic alpha’s side. Not after he killed his sister. So instead of bolting of her jeep she opened the bag and pulled out the things inside. She was pleased to find a my-fi device. She would bet she wasn’t going to get a signal out here without it. She powered on the device and pulled out the laptop. She would bet that it belonged to Peter’s late nurse but it was a Mac book. She frowned. She was powering on the computer when she heard Peter’s footsteps again. 

“So you’re a Mac guy. Is that all werewolves or is it just personal preference?” Peter grinned. He’d buried his nurse not too far from here. He’d been listening, waiting for Stiles to make a break for her jeep. He’d expected more of a fight from her. But she was smarter than he gave her credit for. He was glad he hadn’t had to hurt her, yet. She pulled up the website and paused for a moment. Peter’s smile ticked down a notch, she was going to put up a fight, if only to keep up appearances. She was quite an interesting little human. 

“I don’t know his password.” Peter sighed. Then he lunged shoving her hard against the windshield which cracked. She squeaked in pain and he smelled blood. He smiled as he wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed gently. 

“Don’t lie to me Stiles. Now are you going to help me find my beloved nephew or am I going to have to rip your throat out with my teeth.” There was a rather tense pause before Stiles, who was going very red in the face, nodded. He released her neck and she drew a gasping coughing breath. Peter picked up the laptop and handed it back to her. She began to type and Peter felt his eyes roll.

“His username is Allison?” Stiles tapped the password box and began to type again. 

“His password is also Allison.” Peter deadpanned. 

“Still want him in your pack?” Stiles’ voice was slightly scratchy and Peter smiled at her as the screen loaded. Stiles frowned when the map finally popped up.

“They’re keeping him at his own house?” Peter shook his head. 

“Not in it, under it. I know exactly where that is.” A howl echoed around them. 

“And it sounds like I’m not the only one.” Peter nodded and began to walk away. Stiles really should have just kept her mouth shut but his actions didn’t make sense. 

“So wait you’re not gonna kill me?” Peter turned around like he’d just been reminded of something very important. Stiles felt fear rush through her veins. Peter smiled. Fear was a heady scent to any wolf but her fear had a familiar flavor. Everything about her reminded him of a better time. So instead of lunging like his human brain was telling him to he gently reached out and caught her hand. 

“I like you Stiles. So, I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to give you a gift.” Stiles looked confused. Peter had to admit it was cute when she didn’t know what was going on. 

“Do you want the bite?” He gently pulled her to the edge of the hood of the car so she was level with him ignoring the laptop falling to the ground again, this time the screen shattered on a rock. 

“If it doesn’t kill you, and it could, you’ll become just as powerful as Scott. If not more so. It was luck that I bit him that night. It could easily have been you.” He brought her wrist closer and closer to his face with every word. He was breathing directly on her wrist when he finished, her arm practically in his mouth already. Her heart was going a mile a minute. He let his fangs slip into place and slowly went to bite her. She pulled her arm out of his grip. He let her go.

“No. I don’t want to be like you.” Peter smiled. 

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to lie to me anymore Stiles. One of the benefits of being a wolf is that I can hear your heartbeat. You know what I heard. A flutter when you said the words ‘I don’t want.’ You might believe you’re telling me the truth but you’re lying to yourself.” Stiles stared at him. He smiled a bit wider. 

“But I can't have you following me either.” He grabbed her by the throat again and before she could even squeak he slammed her head into the metal of the hood just hard enough to knock her out cold. He scooped her up and gently laid her in the trunk of the Prius. He clicked it closed and walked over to her jeep. He’d already snagged the keys from her. It took a minute but he found her phone and dialed nine one one. 

“911 what’s your emergency?” He got into the jeep and started it.

“I’d like to report an abandoned car on the preserve. I think I heard something from the trunk too.” He smiled as he drove off giving the woman on the phone directions to the area where he’d left Stiles. When she tried to collect his information though he hung up the phone and threw it into the back of the jeep. He left it back at the now deserted school. She’d find it eventually. He smiled to himself and raced off towards the old Hale house.


	2. The Machine Shop

Stiles grumbled as she stomped away from the guy working on her car. She knew what she needed, and she needed to punch Erica for messing with her baby. Even if she broke her hand doing it she was going to punch the she-wolf in the face. She went to open the door into the waiting room and her hand met something slimy.

“Fuck! Seriously! That’s disgusting.” She groaned as she tried to wipe her hand on her jeans. She shoved the door open with her hip instead letting it hang open behind her. She pulled out her phone with her other hand continuing to wipe her right hand on her jeans and hoodie. She pulled up her text message with Scott and paused as something moved. She frowned as her fingers on her right hand began to tingle. Then she spotted the hand on top of her jeep. It was slimy like the boa constrictor she’d once had when it was about to shed its skin. Claws extended beyond its fingers almost like Scotts but longer and sharper. She tried to step forwards, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do but she had to do something even if the guy was an up-charging asshole he didn’t deserve to die. But instead of walking forwards she teetered and fell. She couldn’t move her leg her hand was frozen too the tingling sensation had quickly spread. She felt her breath seize in her lungs. The thing on her jeep lunged at the mechanic. He slapped a hand to the back of his neck and cried out as he fell, landing with his left half under the lift that held her jeep. Stiles tried to shake her head tried to scream but she couldn’t. She hadn’t had a panic attack in a very, very long time but she knew that that was what was keeping her from breathing. But it wasn’t what was keeping her from moving as the hiss of lift descending began. She wheezed as her vision began to blur and the mechanic began to call for help begging for someone to stop the lift. 

 

Stiles’ phone had fallen near her hand and she managed to twitch her left arm forwards and hit the call button. Every movement was agony but she managed to type in 911. Her eyes darted back over to the lift just in time to see the lift descend the last few feet. The mechanics earsplitting scream and the gurgle and splatter that followed it echoed throughout the room just as the woman on dispatch began the regular question ‘What is your emergency?’ Stiles stared at the half of the body that remained on the floor still twitching slightly and the blood that painted her once blue jeep red. But then another movement caught her eye and she glanced to the side of the jeep and stared still trying to gasp for breath. The thing, whatever it was hadn’t left. It was sitting on its haunches staring at her. It had bright glowing yellow eyes and slits for pupils. It hissed and lunged forwards. Stiles squeezed her eyes shut sure she was about to die but then the noise stopped she opened one eye and tried to start backwards but couldn’t. It was barely a foot away from her its tail swishing behind it as the woman on the phone tried to get a response from someone. It had what looked scale all over its body. 

 

It tilted its head to the side and looked her over one more time before hissing and leaping over her. She couldn’t move her head to see what it was doing but soon the sound of its hissing breaths was gone. Stiles’ vision blurred again. Everything that had happened that night was too much and she still hadn’t managed to get a lungful of air. She felt her self slip and let herself go to the unfeeling darkness of unconsciousness.


	3. The Pool

Stiles swore shaking her hand out as Erica snarled, her cheek already going from red back to its perfect porcelain hue. Stiles mock growled back at the she-wolf as she rubbed her split knuckle. A hand reached out and easily held Erica back. She snarled and a set of red eyes glowed in the darkness of the pool a short growl from Derek was all it took for Erica to back down. 

“Stiles don’t antagonize my Betas.” Stiles flipped both of them off, managing to flick blood at them as she did. 

“Yeah well tell your Betas to leave my car alone, from now on Stiles’ jeep is off limits. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have had to witness a murder or have my car impounded as a murder weapon!” Stiles was still rubbing her bleeding knuckle. Derek sighed and reached out gently taking her hand. Black veins appeared on his arm and the pain faded and the bleeding slowed. 

“I didn’t want this to be a confrontation. I’m sorry you had to see that and I don’t want to have to bring it back but I need to know what you saw, I wont know what it is until either I see it or you tell me what you saw.” Erica huffed wandering off to the side of the pool. Stiles took a shaking breath and sighed before speaking. She described the creature she’d seen and shuddered. She almost wanted Derek to reach out to her, for someone who knew the truth to comfort her at least a little. Scott was a great friend but he was kind of useless when it came to feelings that dealt with anything but Allison. But he didn’t instead he looked up at the stairs above Stiles’ head. She really didn’t want to turn around but the terribly familiar hissing breath made her turn around. There it was, perched on the edge of the railing. Derek yanked Stiles behind him as the thing lunged from the railing. It swatted Erica into the wall and Stiles flinched as she heard a crunch. She would bet that at the very least the she-wolf’s nose was broken. 

“Run!” Derek shoved her away, which was lucky because the thing lunged at where Stiles had been standing moments before. It swiped a hand up and raced away. Derek whirled trying to find it again and that was when Stiles saw it. A thin slice on the back of his neck. 

“Derek, your neck!” Derek reached up and felt the cut and his eyes went wide as his knees buckled. If the look on his face was any indication he was expecting to crumple to his knees, but Stiles didn’t let that happen. Instead she caught him by ducking under one of his arms as he flailed for the last time before Stiles felt the muscles in his arm seize. He groaned slightly as Stiles dragged him towards the exit pulling out her phone with her free hand. Then the creepy lizard man decided it was a good idea to show back up, directly in front of Stiles. She slipped in a puddle in her surprise and her arms began to windmill letting both things she was holding go flying. Her phone flew towards the lizard man in a seemingly halfhearted attempt at defense and Derek slid directly into the pool with a cry of her name. It took Stiles two seconds to pick which item she was going after. The fact that the phone was closer to the monster was only part of the reason Stiles picked what she did.

So instead of lunging towards the thing that had killed a man in front of her she dove gracefully into the pool after Derek. It took a minute to pull him to the surface, she’d thought he was heavy on land but that was nothing to having to tread water holding him up. He spluttered and coughed out some water as Stiles began to try and swim them away from the lizard man. But then it reached out to the water and Stiles’ heart skipped a few beats in fear. She was never going to be able to out swim that thing. She’d never been that strong of a swimmer much less while carrying someone at least twice her size. But as it touched the water it hissed and pulled itself back. 

“It can’t swim?” Derek growled slightly but it wasn’t directed at Stiles, it was directed at the lizard man. Erica was still out cold on the floor but luckily it didn’t seem to have any interest in her. Instead it circled the pool a few times seemingly trying to find a dry path to them. But when none revealed itself it hissed in anger and sat at the side of the pool. And thus began the longest two and a half hours of Stiles’ life. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Over an hour and a half in Stiles was getting very, very tired. Her phone pinged across the pool from her. She glanced at it and Derek grunted. 

“Stiles don’t even think about it. You won’t be able to swim both of us away in time.” Stiles frowned. She wasn’t a fast swimmer, but she was fast enough, when she wasn’t holding up two hundred pounds of werewolf. She pointed this out to said large muscular wolf and he growled at her his eyes flashing red. 

“No!” Stiles did her best to face him while keeping them both floating for the first time in their torturous forced closeness not thinking about said closeness. 

“Listen here buster! You don’t get to flash your red eyes and get me to kowtow to your every whim. I am not one of your Betas! I said no to the big bad bite!” Derek’s eyes went wide in confusion and flashed almost immediately back to their natural green. 

“When did you have the chance to get bitten? I never offered it to you.” He didn’t tell her the reason he hadn’t offered it to her even though his wolf wanted her in his pack, more than it even wanted Scott. She reminded him of Paige, the first person he’d seen the bite kill. His first love. The pale skin and brown hair and large expressive eyes had reminded him of Paige from the moment he saw her standing next to the new made beta in the forest near the Hale property. But she was much more abrasive than Paige had ever been, sarcasm flowed through this girls veins like blood and though they hadn’t interacted in a few weeks since Peter had died she no longer had that tinge of fear she’d had in the police car, or at the vet’s office. She rolled her eyes at him.

“Didn’t really have time to tell anyone what happened when Peter kidnapped me from the Winter Formal.” Derek let out an involuntary growl at the thought of Stiles in the hands of his psychotic uncle. But then something she said caught up to him. 

“Wait, Peter asked you if you wanted the bite?” Stiles nodded glancing back at the lizard man as he shifted slightly as if he too was growing impatient. 

“Yes. And I said no. Didn’t feel the sideburns would suit me.” She was lying. He could tell she was lying but he couldn’t tell why. She was telling the truth that he’d offered, an unheard-of event with Peter, and that she’d turned him down. But the bite of confusion under the lie in her last statement had Derek wondering if she herself didn’t know why she had turned him down. She glanced between the lizard man and her phone again and spoke directly into Derek’s ear. His wolf hummed at the feel and it took him a minute to realize what she was saying.

“How long can you hold your breath?” He tried to move his head to glare at her but he still couldn’t even twitch his finger. 

“No Stiles! You need me to fight that thing. I can’t do that dead!” Stiles was glaring at him, he could feel it on the back of his neck.

“Do you really think that’s why I’ve been holding you up for the last,” She checked her watch which must have been waterproof, “two hours! God you’re an idiot! Is it just a thing with werewolves that every brain cell that controls common sense and trust gets shut off? Is that just where the brain mechanics for the shift go?” Derek growled at her again but it had absolutely no effect this time, she didn’t even acknowledge it. Instead she continued. 

“Listen to me for five fucking minutes. That thing isn’t going anywhere, what if it gets brave enough to try swimming? What if it starts throwing things at us, things like that unconscious Beta over there! I can’t hold up two people especially when I’m convinced you are entirely made of the densest muscle on the planet, which hey good for you but god, maybe skip leg day once in a while! I don’t think it’ll kill you.” Derek made a noise somewhere between a confused grunt and a laugh and Stiles caught herself before she could babble more.

“Point is we need help. You’re a fucking werewolf, take a deep breath and trust me.” Derek was about to protest that he could never trust anyone again, not since Kate, not since he’d found out that it had been his own uncle that had killed his sister but the wolf snarled at him. That was something it hadn’t done since that horrible night he’d come home to find a burned out ruin instead of a happy home. So he tried to nod, found himself unable, growled then made a grunt of acceptance and took a deep breath squeezing his eyes shut. 

 

The second Stiles heard him take the deep breath she dropped him and flailed through the water as fast as she could. The thing realized that its quarry was finally moving and lunged in the direction of Stiles’ dropped phone. Stiles had no clue how she did it but she slapped her hand onto her phone and yanked her arm back into the water moments before the lizard thing screeched at her in impotent rage. She hit Scott’s speed dial and waited. One minute, two minutes. 

“Fuck it!” She threw the phone at the lizard creature and dove under the water kicking her tired legs forcefully to reach Derek before the alpha ran out of air. Had she remained above water she would have been highly satisfied to see her phone strike the creature in the eye before dropping to the ground. Pulling Derek to the surface took significantly more effort this time and they both had to spit water this time. That was not a good sign. The lizard thing howled again and began to circle the pool once more. It looked like they weren’t getting out of this any time soon.


	4. The Pool: Aftermath

Stiles couldn’t keep holding on. Her legs were going numb, she was starting to shiver despite the large werewolf shaped heater she was holding up. She swore under her breath. 

“I can’t keep this up much longer.” Derek was starting to twitch slightly but not enough to keep either of them up, much less both of them. Stiles glanced at the diving platforms, they jutted out just far enough that the thing might not be able to reach it, she wasn’t sure but she had to try. 

“I need something to hold onto.” She began to kick her way to the platforms. The thing hissed and pulled back into the shadows. Stiles didn’t have the energy to look for it. Instead she focused on her goal even as her vision blurred slightly. She was so tired. She thought she heard Derek whine slightly as she groaned trying to hold on to him and stretch out an arm to reach the steps of the diving platform. Derek twitched his head towards the doors but Stiles wasn’t paying attention to him again. She’d successfully caught hold of the diving platform but she could no longer feel her fingers. Her hand was curled towards her and she saw that her fingernails were tinged blue. Her hand slipped once and she swore pulling Derek’s attention back to her. She tried to curl her hand around the step again but her hands were shaking too badly, her legs were starting to cramp. She was starting to feel like she was edging on a panic attack again but she didn’t get the chance. 

Instead her hand slipped completely off the step and her legs refused to kick this time. So with a cry from Derek, Stiles thought she spotted his hand twitch towards her but she couldn’t tell, they slipped under the water. Stiles couldn’t keep her eyes open. She felt the air rush out of her lungs as her eyes slipped closed and felt her arms and legs twitch as water rushed in. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Derek felt panic rush through him as Stiles slipped under the water. He followed barely a second later and couldn’t help but watch as a cloud of bubbles escaped Stiles’ mouth and nose as he tried to swim towards her, he managed a weak flail as her eyes slipped closed, he wasn’t going to make it to her in time. He could hear her heart speed up drastically as her body panicked at the introduction of water to her lungs. Then it began to slow drastically. Then an arm reached passed him and snatched Stiles out of the water by the front of her shirt. Barely a second later the arm grabbed him by the back of the shirt. Once he was out of the water he smelled Scott. Erica was finally beginning to stir as Scott tossed him over to Stiles. She wasn’t moving but Scott didn’t have time to deal with that he was busy facing up with the large scaled thing. So Derek pulled himself over to her. He was starting to get feeling back in his arms and legs. Maybe the venom wore off after a time, maybe the water had diluted it, maybe his wolf was pushing itself to heal him. All he knew was that Stiles wasn’t breathing and she was this way because of him, and he wouldn’t stand for it. So instead he pushed Stiles onto her back and pressed down on Stiles’ chest. 

He was as gentle as he could be, he could easily break her ribs if he pushed any harder. He swore as she didn’t start breathing again. He tilted her head and pinched her nose before taking a deep breath and blowing it into her lungs. Then he went back to the chest compressions. He forced air into her lungs again and heard her heart speed up before she began to cough. He gently turned her on her side letting her disgorge the water from her lungs. She gasped and wretched again. 

“Could… at least... have taken me… to dinner… first.” Derek couldn’t help a laugh as his wolf howled with relief. Then they were both drawn back to the situation at hand when Scott was thrown across the room into one of the glass cases that held some of the beacon swim team medals. He growled pulling himself up and grabbing a piece of the glass. The light caught it for a moment and the things face was reflected in it for a moment. It shrieked like it had been hurt and leapt over the half paralyzed alpha and half drowned human ignoring them completely now and leaping out of the skylight. Derek managed to drag himself over Stiles to block her from any of the raining glass. 

Scott dropped the piece of glass and ran over to them, Erica not far behind him. 

“Are you alright?” Stiles glared up at her friend. 

“You… need to… answer… your god damn… phone!” She chocked out. Derek huffed and leaned back as Erica laid a hand on his shoulder. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

It was nearly half an hour later when they finally made it out of the school. Stiles was wrapped in a blanket Scott had liberated from the nurse’s office. Derek didn’t need it but he could see that Stiles was still shivering. Her lips were tinged slightly blue as she swore at the laptop on Scott’s car. 

“So we still don’t even know what this thing is called.” Her voice was still raw from coughing up water out of her lungs. Derek stepped forwards tossing his jacket around Stiles.

“It’s called a Kanima.” Stiles frowned. 

“You knew what it was the whole time?” Derek shook his head.

“No not till it got confused by its own reflection.” Derek explained what he knew about the kanima watching Stiles out of the corner of his eye. Scott frowned. 

“So what now?” Derek glanced at Stiles then back to Scott. 

“I’m gonna find out who it is, and I’m gonna kill it.” Without another glance at the pair he walked away. Once he was around the corner though he held out his keys to Erica. In a whisper he was sure Scott wouldn’t be listening for he spoke. 

“Take the Camaro, go back to the train station. Call Boyd, Isaac should still be there. Wait there. I’ll meet you there.” Erica looked like she wanted to argue but after a minute she nodded taking the keys. Derek listened to Scott and Stiles talking. 

“So what do we do, Derek’s gonna kill someone again!” Stiles sneezed in response and glared at Scott.

“Scott, I am literally freezing. My nails are blue, and I am literally one giant bruise from holding up two hundred pounds of ungrateful Alpha werewolf. Can we worry about this tomorrow please? I have done everything you’ve asked me to do since the night you got bitten! Drive me home and I will research until my eyes bleed after I’m sure I don’t have hypothermia!” She was shouting at him by the time she finished. He stepped back slightly. Then he nodded opening the door for her and cranking the heater once they were inside. He followed them. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He wasn’t really sure why he was doing this. He wasn’t sure why he was sitting outside the window of the daughter of the sheriff while she was taking a shower a few rooms over. Was it because she was thawing out after nearly freezing holding him up in a pool for over two hours? Or was it that act alone that had him sneaking into her room and cranking her heater, laying out an extra blanket on her computer chair. Before sneaking out as quietly as he could. But he didn’t leave. He waited outside her window in the shadows. He kept his eyes on the road when she came back into the room wrapped in a towel. Waited until he heard the creak of the bed before he risked another look into the room. Stiles was on top of the covers. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was evening out. Her fingers were still prune-like and shaking slightly but she was definitely asleep. He reopened her window and crept in, silent as a shadow. 

He really didn’t know why he did it, if he was asked he would deny it to the grave. But he laid a hand on Stiles’ thigh, which her sleep shorts put on display, and drew her pain away. Then when he was sure she had sunk deep into a peaceful sleep he carefully lifted her up deftly pulling the blankets out from under her and tucking her in. He grabbed the blanket he’d set out that she hadn’t seemed to have noticed and added it to the pile. Only then did his wolf hum in approval. He glanced around her room. His jacket was laying on her desk. He made to take it but then he caught a whiff of it. Stiles’ scent overlaid his and he felt a smile pull at his lips as the wolf practically purred. He walked back over to the window, careful to pull it shut after him. He could pick up his jacket any time, or at least that’s what he told himself. He knew very well that as long as that jacket left traces of his scent on her he would not take it back. He was still confused but the wolf was more content than it had been in a long time as he began to make his way to the train depot. 

He only knew a few things for certain now. One: The Kanima had to die. Two: One way or another he was going to convince Stiles to join his pack, and the best way to do that was through Scott. He cracked his neck. He had a lot of work to do.


	5. The Basement

For one shining moment Stiles was on top of the world as the scoreboard changed from nine to ten! Everyone was celebrating as the board buzzed signaling the end of the game. The team surrounded her everyone shouting and yelling in relief and pure unbridled joy. They had won. Stiles had won them the game. She distantly heard Coach Finstock screaming in joy. For once everything had worked out, she thought as she spotted Scott pushing his way back onto the field, Isaac not far behind him. Then Danny wrapped her in a bear hug and she lost sight of them. Nothing could have gone wrong at that moment, her dad was still shouting that his daughter had won the game. Lydia was cheering her name. Everything was perfect. 

Then the lights went out and panic gripped the field as a shrill scream echoed around the field. Stiles whirled as bodies raced past her, someone was shouting for help. Someone was down on the field. She pulled off her helmet her hair sticking up in all directions as she heard Mrs. McCall calling out for Scott. She had to help. But before she could open her mouth a hand wrapped around her face and gripped hard. She tensed ready to bite down and scream for all she was worth when she felt the cold press of metal through her hair. Someone was holding a gun to her head again. She stilled completely, someone breathed in her ear. 

“Good girl. Now walk.” She had no choice but to do what Gerard said. She couldn’t see anything, it was too dark, there was no moon tonight. She nearly tripped as her knees made painful contact with what had to be the edge of a van. She was shoved inside and she blinked for a moment before her eyes adjusted to the light now pouring from the lacrosse field. She could hear Lydia screaming Jackson’s name from here. Then as the door to the van slid closed she heard her father shouting her name. Begging to know where she was. She swore as the van took off down the road. 

 

The door was opened by a young man she didn’t recognize who was pointing a gun at her. She rolled her eyes and raised her empty hands in surrender. She couldn’t help but wonder if this kid knew that she wasn’t a werewolf as Gerard directed him to take her into the house. She was manhandled into Allison’s house, did Allison know that this was happening? Would she be against it? Stiles knew what losing your mother could do to someone. She’d tried to talk to Allison afterwards but she’d never answered any of her calls and had walked the other way when they’d seen each other. Gerard opened the door to the basement and nodded to the young man who prodded her in the back with his gun. When she didn’t move quite fast enough for him he shoved her down the stairs. She tumbled and fell swearing loudly as she did so. She landed hard on one of her ankles which immediately crumpled under her. She managed not to swear as she pulled herself up on the wall shaking out her foot. It didn’t feel broken. Then she heard the crackle of electricity. She felt along the wall and finally found the light switch. She flicked it on hoping that hadn’t been the source of the sound. 

She swore loudly again as the light flickered on and she spotted the source of the sound. Erica and Boyd were bound and gagged hanging from the ceiling, both looked hurt and scared. Boyd’s shirt was covered in blood. She thought she saw a flicker of relief as they spotted her and she pulled herself off the wall favoring her ankle. She rushed over to them as fast as she could and quietly apologized as she yanked the tape off Erica’s mouth. The she-wolf whimpered as Stiles reached up to the chords tying her up. She tried to speak but her voice caught in her throat. Stiles’ hand made contact with the chord and she immediately pulled it back as the sparks of electricity burned her hand and the lights flickered. Erica whimpered again. 

“She was trying to warn you.” Stiles whirled almost falling as she put weight on her injured ankle. Gerard was standing at the bottom of the stairs smiling.

“What are you doing to them?” Gerard smiled wider. 

“Electricity keeps them from shifting, in the right amount. A bit more keeps them from healing, a bit more takes away their hearing, a bit more takes their strength. Fascinating isn’t it.” Stiles stepped slightly in front of the two helpless Betas. Erica watched her, shocked that the only human in this mess was trying to protect them, more than Derek ever had. Maybe if she howled Derek would come before Gerard could do anything to Stiles. Gerard glanced at the she-wolf and shook his head pulling a knife from his belt. 

“You howl, she dies.” He said gesturing towards Stiles with the blade. Erica froze nodding slightly even as she smelled the tang of fear spark off of Stiles. Gerard stepped forwards and Stiles matched his step back. 

“Why am I here?” Gerard’s smile made Erica’s stomach turn. 

“You’re here to help me send a message.” Before Stiles could move he grabbed her by the front of her jersey and delivered a punishing blow to her face. She tried to fight back but Gerard was quite a bit faster than she was. Erica watched as Gerard hit her again and again. Boyd was straining against his bonds but they weren’t giving an inch. Gerard dropped Stiles to the floor seeming to have grown tired of beating her for the moment. She rolled over and spat blood that Erica hoped was just from her split lip. She looked awful. She had a slash in her cheek that was bleeding freely, Gerard hadn’t put the knife down when he’d started beating her. The skin around her left eye was already darkening into a bruise. She coughed and glared at Gerard. 

“Scott will find me, he knows my scent.” Erica could hear the slight quaver in her voice, but she couldn’t tell if it was uncertainty or pain. 

“Scott’s going to be a bit busy tonight I’m afraid. See he’s dealing with Jackson’s death.” Stiles’ eyes went wide, confusion joining pain in their whiskey depths.

“Jackson’s dead?” Gerard glanced at his slightly bloodstained knife before throwing it towards Stiles who flinched violently. It buried itself in the floor next to her head. Boyd could hear her harsh scared breathing as Gerard stepped forwards again pulling his silver pill container out of his pocket. He downed a few and smiled. 

“Yes, for the moment.” Stiles’ opened her mouth to speak but Gerard lashed out again, this time with his foot and Stiles was forced to curl in on herself to try and protect her ribs and head. Eric sobbed. 

“Leave her alone! She’s not one of us! She’s not a wolf! Leave her alone!” The door to the basement burst open and hurried footsteps came racing down them. Chris Argent stared at the scene before him as Gerard delivered a blow to Stiles’ head with his steel toed boot. She slumped to the floor out cold as Erica sobbed. Chris shoved past his father and knelt down by Stiles. Erica snarled her eyes flashing gold as Boyd’s did the same, he was unable to snarl as the tape was still over his mouth. 

“Don’t touch her!” Chris ignored the angered Beta for the moment as he placed two fingers on Stiles’ neck feeling for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found one, slightly thready but there and still strong. He glared up at his father. 

“What the hell are you doing? We don’t hurt humans! That has always been the rule.” Gerard laughed as he took another pill from his silver box. 

“You and your rules Chris. This is war. There are casualties in war. But I’m done with her anyway. He should get the message now.” Chris’ glare intensified. 

“All this to send a message?” Gerard nodded. 

“If you want to be helpful, send it. Otherwise get out of here. I didn’t raise a coward to afraid to get his hands dirty.” Chris pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it to the slice on Stiles’ cheek as Gerard walked out of the room. Once the door was closed again he glanced up at the Betas. He and Erica made eye contact for a moment before he stood. He quick stepped over to the machine that controlled the voltage that was feeding into the Betas. Erica’s eyes welled up with tears as he reached for the controls. Then she heard the flick of a switch and the electricity stopped. She blinked as Chris pulled a knife out of his belt and sliced through the chords holding her up then stepped over to Boyd. Erica lunged for Stiles trying to focus through the tears. She could hear her heartbeat. Chris pulled the tape off of Boyd’s mouth. 

“What are you doing?” Boyd croaked as Chris cut him down too. 

“Choosing a side.” Erica picked Stiles up.

“She needs a hospital.” Chris nodded and glanced around.

“I’ll take her. You two cant go out the door, Gerard will shoot you. Go out the window.” He tossed Boyd his keys. “Meet me in the black van. Don’t let them see you.” The Betas nodded and pried open the small window barely squeezing out of it as Chris picked Stiles up and carefully made his way up the stairs. No one stopped him as he walked through his kitchen. Then he heard a gasp. Allison came running out of the downstairs guest bedroom where she’d been sleeping ever since she’d learned that her mother had died in her room. 

“Stiles! What the hell happened to her? Is she ok! It was Derek wasn’t it!” Chris shook his head as he glanced around. 

“Gerard happened to her. I need to get her to the hospital.” Allison looked shocked. 

“But she’s human.” Chris nodded and gestured his head towards the front door hoping that Boyd and Erica were already hidden. 

“Open the door for me sweetie.” Allison’s hands shook as she did as she was asked. He could practically see the wheels in her head turning, finally starting to see what kind of person her grandfather was. She raced over to the hall closet. 

“I’ll come with you.” Chris shook his head. He couldn’t let her find out that he was helping Derek’s pack. He couldn’t involve her in this. Gerard was likely to kill him for it. 

“No it’ll look suspicious. She was taken off the lacrosse field. I’ll say I found her while out looking after I heard what happened. I love you sweetie.” Without another word he stepped out the door and quick stepped over to the black van. He stepped around to the passenger side and a hand reached out of the back seat opening the door for him. He buckled the still unconscious girl into the seat and closed the door behind him before slipping into the diver side. The keys were in the ignition. He gunned the engine and drove away from his house. As he did he spotted Allison sobbing in the doorway. 

He pulled out his phone and dialed nine one one.

“911 what is your emergency?” The voice came over the line.

“This is Chris Argent. I found Stiles Stilinski. She’s hurt. I’m taking her to the hospital.” The voice was silent for a moment. 

“We’ll meet you there.” He nodded. 

“I also found Erica Reyes and Vernon Boyd, they’re a bit shaken up but not hurt.” He heard someone scribbling something down on the other end of the line. 

“Where did you find them?” He thought fast.

“The preserve behind the school. I found an old shed, that’s where they were.” He turned left towards the hospital as the man on the phone spoke to someone else. The phone must have changed hands because the next voice Chris heard was Sheriff Stilinski’s. 

“Chris, you found my daughter.”

“Yes.” There was a sigh of relief and the phone changed hands again. The first voice spoke again. 

“The sheriff is on his way to the hospital.” Chris nodded and hung up the phone. Not five minutes later he pulled up to the hospital closely followed by the Sheriff’s cruiser. He opened the door as the Sheriff hopped out of his car and raced towards the van. He yanked open the door and carefully unbuckled his daughter scooping her up and racing into the hospital. Chris opened the door to the back seat and helped Erica and Boyd down. The she-wolf hesitated but hugged him and then raced into the hospital hand in hand with Boyd. Chris closed the door and hopped back into his car. He had read up on the Kanima, if Jackson was dead he wouldn’t be for long and he had the feeling that Scott and Derek would have figured that out and would be getting him out of the hospital any time now. He pulled around to the back of the building, finding just what he’d hoped to find, Scott and Isaac dragging a body bag.


	6. The Warehouse

Stiles groaned and shifted. The bed under her wasn’t comfortable, nor did it seem to be her own. The pillow was too stiff. She groaned a bit louder, people were talking above her in hushed tones. Her arm felt heavy. So did her foot. She tried to move it and swore as pain shot through it. The voices stopped. Stiles didn’t want to open her eyes, she didn’t want to see Erica and Boyd hanging from the ceiling. She didn’t want to get hurt again. 

“Stiles.” She frowned. That didn’t sound like Gerard. That sounded like…

“Dad?” Stiles croaked opening her eyes. Her dad was standing over her, Mrs. McCall at the end of her bed. She was tucked in under a thin hospital blanket, dressed in a hospital gown. She heard shuffling from the bed next to hers and spotted Erica and Boyd. She breathed a sigh of relief. Erica wrapped a hand around hers and sniffled. Her father placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“How do you feel?” Stiles shifted again. 

“Like shit.” Her dad huffed something that sounded suspiciously like the word ‘Language’ but he was still frowning slightly. Mrs. McCall stepped forwards.

“You have a crack in the bone in your left arm, a concussion, a severely sprained ankle, three bruised ribs, and four stitches in your cheek. You’re lucky Chris found you when he did. You look like you got kicked in the head.” Stiles tried to sit up. Her father put a hand on her shoulder to keep her down. 

“It’s ok Erica and Boyd told us everything. We’ve got an APB out on the guy who did this to you. Rest you’re gonna be ok. I need to go talk to my deputies. I’ll be back in a few.” Stiles nodded. Once she was sure that her father was gone she turned to Erica and Boyd. 

“What did you tell him?” Erica glanced at Mrs. McCall. Stiles groaned. 

“She knows, just tell me.” Boyd nodded. 

“We told him someone took us a few weeks ago. A blonde with a big scar through his left eye, told him that the guy dragged you in in your lacrosse gear and beat you, we weren’t sure why. Erica got the gag out of her mouth and screamed and that’s when Chris Argent showed up, broke down the door. The guy ran. Chris cut us lose and brought us here.” Erica nodded. 

“Not too far from the truth.” Stiles frowned. 

“Chris Argent saved us, all of us?” The Betas nodded. A phone pinged. Mrs. McCall pulled it out of her scrubs and Stiles’ recognized it as her own. 

“It’s Scott. He wants to know if you’re ok.” Stiles held out her right hand for the phone. Mrs. McCall hesitated but handed it over. Stiles threw it onto the counter near Boyd. Mrs. McCall frowned. 

“Was that necessary?” Stiles frowned and refused to answer. Erica sensed the tension and managed to usher Mrs. McCall out of the room, she and Boyd promised to keep watch outside, leaving Stiles alone with her thoughts. It was several hours before they let someone through. That someone ended up being Lydia. She sighed heavily and sat down at the edge of Stiles’ bed. Stiles reached out her left arm and hissed in pain. Lydia was near tears. 

“I’m glad you’re ok Stiles.” Stiles reached across herself and patted Lydia with her right hand instead. 

“Me too. I heard about Jackson... I’m sorry. I know how you felt about him.” Lydia stood and walked over to the counter picking up Stiles’ phone, which had pinged several times over the last hour. 

“They won’t let me see him.” Stiles pulled herself up using her good arm. Lydia turned to her and Stiles held her arms open for a hug. Lydia accepted squeezing a bit hard making her ribs throb. 

“You have seventeen messages from Scott.” Lydia said somewhere near Stiles’ collarbone. Stiles sighed. 

“I know.” Lydia pulled back and frowned. 

“Are you ignoring him?” Stiles frowned down at her feet. 

“Maybe.” She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t contacted Scott. Maybe because somewhere deep down she’d thought it was him bursting into the basement to save them not Chris. Maybe she didn’t want to deliver Gerard’s message. She wasn’t even sure. Lydia pulled back and glanced down at the phone in her hands. She went pale and handed the phone to Stiles. 

“You’re gonna want to read this one.” Stiles glanced at her phone and swore. 

‘Jackson is going full Alpha Kanima anytime now. We need your help. We need Lydia. We don’t know if the Pack can stop him since we’re two short. Please Stiles.’ Stiles sighed, she was so tired. 

“How much do you know about this?” Lydia let out a breath. 

“Pieces. So I’m not crazy.” Stiles shook her head. 

“No you’re not crazy. Not sure why you didn’t turn when Peter bit you. None of us are.” Lydia whirled on her, she looked like she was just holding back from hitting the already injured girl.

“’Why didn’t anyone tell me!” Stiles sighed. 

“The more you know the more danger you’re in. Do you really think this was done to hurt me?! Why do you think I’ve been ignoring Scott? Why do you think two werewolves are standing guard outside my door!” Stiles tried to take a deep breath and coughed violently. Lydia was shaking slightly.

“I need to see him.” Stiles looked at Lydia for a minute. Then she spoke. 

“Boyd, go get my jeep. Erica find me pants. We’re going after Scott and Jackson.” Lydia looked like she was going to say something, but Stiles continued. “All four of us.” Lydia beamed. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The Kanima hissed and was about to lunge when the wooden wall burst open light flooding in as a very familiar blue jeep came barreling into the warehouse before slamming into the large scaled man who disappeared under the front end of it. Scott glanced up to smile at his best friend’s impeccable timing but found a whimper slipping out of his mouth instead at he sight of her. She was paler than he’d ever seen her, though that might be the dark bruises on her face and the white cast on her left arm. 

“Did I get him?” Scott noticed Erica and Boyd leaning forwards from the backseat of the Jeep. Then the Kanima leapt onto the hood and roared at the occupants.

“Jesus Crispity Christ!” Stiles swore ducking as the Kanima headbutted the windshield. All four people leapt out of the Jeep, Erica latching onto Stiles, helping keeping her standing, Scott realized as he spotted the splint on Stiles’ right ankle. Lydia however advanced on the Kanima.

Derek refused to pay attention to the Kanima right now. If his research was right and he really hoped it was Lydia could save him. But what he was worried about right now was Stiles who reeked of the hospital and looked like she was in intense amounts of pain. He stepped between his Betas and the Kanima. 

“What happened?” Stiles was the one who spoke. 

“Later.” The room went quiet again as they all watched as Jackson transformed from scaly Kanima to blue eyed wolf. While he and Lydia held each other, and wept Scott stepped over to Stiles. 

“Are you ok?” Stiles shrugged.

“I never really had a shot there anyway. We both know that.” Scott nodded frowning. 

“Not what I meant.” Stiles shook her head slightly.

“Oh yeah that, Gerard sends his regards.” Scott growled but his was drowned out by Dereks.

“Gerard did this to you?” Stiles, Erica and Boyd nodded. Derek was suddenly glad that he had bitten the old man and Scott had poisoned him. But he whirled on the beta.

“You need to take better care of your pack McCall.” Erica nodded. 

“Yeah you both could learn some things from Stiles. She at least tried to get Boyd and me out of the psycho Argents basement.” Erica turned to Chris. “No offence.” Chris nodded slightly and Allison stared at him.

“You let them go?” Chris nodded. 

“Yes I did. They’ve never hurt anyone. I drew a line, Gerard hurt innocents, hurt innocents to send a message, that’s not the way we do things.” Stiles wobbled slightly as Lydia pulled off her jacket and let Jackson cover himself with it. Erica and Boyd were at Stiles’ side in moments. Stiles rolled her eyes but she was smiling slightly. She shot Lydia the thumbs up and rolled her eyes at Jackson. 

“You’re paying for the scratches you put in my Jeep.” Jackson glanced at the Jeep, then at Lydia and smiled a genuine smile. 

“That’s fair. Also I think I’m gonna drop the restraining order.” Stiles’ smile slipped a little.

“You remember anything?” Jackson looked down at his feet.

“Bits and pieces.” Lydia wrapped an arm around him. 

“We’ll get through this Jackson.” Jackson nodded. Stiles nodded. 

“Great, I’m going back to the hospital before Mrs. McCall isn’t able to keep everyone out of my room anymore.” Erica frowned. 

“Maybe I should drive.” Stiles shot her a look and Scott spoke up. 

“Nobody drives the Jeep but Stiles, and her dad.” Stiles nodded.

“Bet your ass! Now are you coming or not?” Erica grinned and pulled Boyd into the jeep. Stiles rolled her eyes and started the engine.

“No making out in my back seat you two.” Erica laughed and laid a kiss on Boyd’s cheek. Stiles rolled her eyes again before gunning her engine and driving off. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Soon Stiles was back in the hospital, Mrs. McCall having been kind enough to sneak her both in and out of the hospital to help the pack two of whom were now curled up in chairs around the room snoring lightly. Stiles had refused Mrs. McCall’s offer of painkillers before but now she was sitting comfortably in a haze of morphine. Her father slipped into the room and smiled as Stiles tried to wave but only really managed to twitch her fingers. He sat down on the edge of her bed. 

“You feeling ok?” Stiles head lolled as she tried to nod. So instead she spoke. 

“Im goood.” Her father stifled a laugh and ran a hand through her hair. 

“That’s good. I think we’re gonna be ok Stiles.” Stiles glanced around and her head lolled again as she yawned. 

“I think so too.” She said managing not to slur this time as her eyes began to droop closed. She felt her father pull the blanket higher up and brushed her hair out of her face laying a kiss on her forehead. He was right, Stiles thought as she slipped into the comfortable darkness, they would be alright.


	7. The Sheriff's Station

Stiles really wanted nothing more at that moment than to punch Matt in the head, or maybe Scott. She’d called this, called it from the moment she’d set eyes on the creepy little bastard. But no here she was marching back into her dad’s office a gun pressed to the back of her head. She cleared her throat to let the other two know she was there, Scott should have heard him coming, but he hadn’t. What good were werewolf senses if one never used them? If her dad got hurt or worse here she was going to kill Matt, then Jackson, then Scott. Or maybe she’d just stop helping him, if she did he’d be dead within the week anyway she had no doubt. Deaton might be able to keep him alive for a few days Stiles mused as the three of them were marched away from the Sheriff’s office. Matt marched them to the holding cells and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt. He tossed them to Stiles who barely caught them. He gestured towards her father with his gun. 

“Cuff him to the wall.” Stiles hesitated glaring at Matt like her death stare was going to actually do him some damage. He pointed his gun at the former sheriff. 

“Do it now or I swear to god I will shoot him.” Stiles frowned at her dad who sat down slowly on the bench and just as slowly raised his hand to the hook on the wall where they usually handcuffed suspects. Stiles reluctantly snapped one cuff around the wall hook then the other around her father’s wrist. He nodded to her reassuringly. Matt waved the gun around again. 

“Tighter.” Stiles glared at him over her shoulder. But her father spoke. 

“Do what he says Stiles.” Stiles complied tightening the cuff around her father’s hand with an apologetic look. Matt gestured for her to step back from her dad and she did. Her father took his eyes off her instead turning to Matt. 

“Matt, listen to me. Stop this now. You don’t have to do this.” Before another word could pass her father’s lips Matt reached out and wrapped a hand is Stiles’ short hair jamming the gun under her chin. 

“Shut up old man! Unless you want me to repaint this place with your daughter’s brain!” The former Sheriff froze a look in his eyes Stiles had never seen before. Fear, true fear was painted in his face as Matt bodily dragged her out of the room, the gun still jammed under her chin. Scott followed slowly looking like a kicked puppy. Matt dragged them back a different way and for a moment Stiles wasn’t sure why. Then she spotted what was in the hallway and had to stifle a scream. Four cops, good men Stiles had known most of her life were laying bloodied in the hallway. Matt had paused. Scott spoke. 

“You’re not gonna get away with this Matt. You’ve killed to many people.” Matt was smirking, Stiles couldn’t see it but she could hear it. 

“Oh I didn’t kill them, that’s what Jackson is for.” As Matt began to drag her around the corner she spotted a scaled claw reach out of the hallway and drag the only still breathing officer off with a whimper. Tears stung Stiles’ eyes as they were dragged into her dad’s office. Matt still hadn’t taken the gun out from under her chin. Scott was practically vibrating with suppressed growls.

“Let her go Matt.” Matt shook his head. 

“No, I’m not taking any chances with you Scotty. See I know your furry little secret. No. You’re going to destroy all the evidence on that desk and then sweet little Stiles here is gonna delete everything off the computer. Or her brains paint the office instead. Scott let all pretenses drop and growled at Matt his eyes flashing gold. Matt pushed the gun further into Stiles chin making her tilt her head back slightly. 

“Do it!” Scott stopped growling and picked up a folder off the desk and began shredding the contents. Once he was done Matt walked Stiles over to computer and made her sit down at the desk both hands on the keyboard as he instructed Scott to the other side of the room. He really wasn’t taking any chances with Scott not after he’d called someone with his phone in his pocket earlier. Stiles really hoped he’d called Derek not Isaac or Allison but knowing Scott there was no way of knowing. Stiles typed in her fathers passwords and pulled up all the digital evidence as Matt and Scott talked about why Matt was doing what he did. While Matt had his eyes off her Stiles thought fast and emailed the whole file to herself before exiting the email window before Matt could see what she’d done. Then she went about deleting what was on the computer. There was no way Matt was going to get away with this, not if Stiles had anything to day about it. They all looked up as someone pulled into the parking lot outside. 

“Look’s like your mom is here!” Matt grinned as Scott went pale. 

“Please Matt just let me tell her to go away, please don’t hurt her.” Matt was pointing the gun at Stiles again. 

“Walk both of you!” Stiles had no choice. She really hoped that if that was Mrs. McCall she had spotted the officer, dead behind the front counter and ran. Matt had Scott open the door and if Stiles was honest she had never been happier to see the scowling face of Derek Hale. But then he keeled over like a downed tree, that had Stiles rolling her eyes even as a half transformed Jackson stepped into the room. Matt flipped the alpha over with his foot and smiled as Derek tried to snarl his eyes flashing red, looking less intimidating than a wet kitten. Matt laughed. 

“So he’s one of you lot too? I thought he might be. Werewolves, Kanimas, it’s like Halloween year-round with you people.” He waved his gun at Stiles with a smile. “Except for you Stiles, what do you turn into again?” 

“Abominable Snowman. But it’s really more of a seasonal thing.” Matt sneered and made a small gesture with his gun free hand. Jackson lunged behind the two still standing teens and Matt nodded. Stiles felt something slice into the back of her neck.

“You bitch!” She slurred out as everything went nearly instantly numb and she toppled Scott making an aborted move to catch her before Matt leveled the gun at his head. Stiles landed on top of Derek which she supposed was better than landing on the floor on her face. Knowing her luck today she would probably have broken her nose. Derek was growling still but his eyes were watching Matt. 

“Get. Her. Off. Me.” Derek snarled even as his nostrils seemed to be working overtime. Matt knelt down and smiled. 

“I don’t know Derek, I think you two make a cute couple.” Derek wanted to snarl at the boy, lunge at him and tear his head off. He was behind all of this. All of the killings. Behind Stiles now laying paralyzed on top of him. If he was honest he didn’t have too many problems with Stiles laying on top of him, his wolf had calmed down immensely when she landed on him instead of on the floor and behind all the rage at the Kanima and its master his wolf was doing happy circles and rolling in the fact the Stiles would smell like him for a while after this mess was over, if they lived. Then someone else pulled up to the station and Matt and Scott began arguing again. Then Matt flipped Stiles off of him and his wolf snarled, she already smelled too much like this psycho and gun oil for his tastes. But when Matt pressed his foot down on her throat Derek let out a growl that shook the whole station. But he could do nothing to stop it, he still couldn’t even twitch his fingers. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stiles couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Her body was begging her brain to fight back but she could do nothing but splutter as Matt’s sneaker pressed harder. Scott relented just as Stiles was sure she was going to pass out. Matt pressed down one more time and Stiles saw stars as Derek growled loudly. Then he removed his foot and Stiles choked out a cough, gasping for air as Scott opened the door, Matt with the gun to the back of his head. Then Matt had shot Scott and Mrs. McCall was panicking, Stiles was almost certain she hadn’t noticed herself and Derek laid out on the floor, but Stiles couldn’t blame her for that. After all she had no idea that werewolves were real let alone that her son was one. Her father screaming her name from the other room sounding panicked and broken had tears sliding down Stiles’ face as Matt dragged Mrs. McCall and Scott out of the room. She felt Derek’s finger twitch as Jackson followed Matt like a zombie on a leash. She tried to glance down but couldn’t tilt her head up. 

“What are you doing?” Derek glanced at her. For once they were at eye level with each other, Stiles was at least six inches shorter than the alpha if not more. She was still red faced and out of breath, her voice scratchy from Matt stepping on her vocal chords. 

“Something I hope works.” Stiles managed to glance down and gagged as she saw Derek’s claws sink into his leg. 

“Oh god! Why are you hurting yourself! That’s the last thing we need!” Derek growled slightly and it startled Stiles enough to stave off the panic attack that had been building since Jackson sliced into her neck. 

“I’m kickstarting the healing process, trying to purge the venom from my system. I won’t be much use paralyzed.” Stiles tried to nod. 

“Yeah and this time I can’t save you either.” Derek scoffed but his eyes were still glowing red, and if Stiles didn’t know better she would say there was worry in his eyes. There was silence between the two of them for a moment before Matt dragged a still bleeding Scott back into the room. He was babbling about the supernatural, then he pulled up his shirt and Stiles spotted the scales growing on his side that looked suspiciously like the scales that Jackson was now fully adorned with. Stiles swore under her breath. 

“What the hell is that?” Derek made a noise that was about halfway between a verbal shrug and a swear word. Then he did what Stiles had never thought he’d do. He answered her question.

“Not sure. I’ve done some research, the Kanima is only supposed to go after murderers.” Stiles made a noise of comprehension. 

“I read that too. But Jackson’s been killing people who never hurt anyone.: The image of the hallway full of officers, their blood splattered nearly to the celling still haunted Stiles. Derek nodded. 

“And Matt killed the mother, so he’s a murderer.” Stiles hummed in agreement as Matt and Scott left the room again, not giving the two people on the floor another thought. Once they were gone Derek nodded slightly. 

“So Matt breaks the rules…” Derek said testing his fingers and finding them more inclined to movement than any other part of him. 

“Matt becomes the Kanima.” Stiles said glancing down at Derek’s leg. “How’s that hypothetical situation we talked about coming along?” Stiles asked right before the sound of gunfire, shattering glass and splintering wood filled the station. She could hear Mrs. McCall panicking from the other room, the absence of her father’s voice had her heart going a mile a minute, until Derek moved his hand a fraction of an inch and gently squeezed her hand. She only felt the pressure, not the callouses or the blood on his hand but it was enough to calm her heartbeat and that made Derek’s wolf purr. Then smoke was pouring out of the bullpen, the sounds of gunfire had stopped. A moment later Matt came barreling out of the room not even glancing behind him. He looked panicked. He raced passed them towards the holding cells. Scott followed him out a moment after, wolfed out. He calmed slightly as Derek struggled to his feet.

“Take her! Go!” Scott scooped Stiles up off the floor as the sounds of breaking glass sounded around them and the Kanima jumped through the room not paying them any attention for once and Stiles was glad of it as Scott carried her through the door the Kanima and Matt had just gone through. Derek was covering them from behind, maybe waiting for the hunters like the idiotic Alpha he was. Scott glanced through the crack in the door then set her down on the chair normally reserved for the officer watching the prisoners in the holding cells. 

“Don’t move.” Scott said and Stiles would have glared at him if her head hadn’t lolled back so she was looking at the celling instead. 

“You’re so fucking funny Scott.” Stiles was starting to get the barest amount of feeling back as Scott slipped through the door. Stiles flinched as more gunfire sounded. She decided she could at least try to get to the other trapped humans, she had to know that her dad was ok. He had to be ok. So with an awkward flail she managed to fall off her chair onto her front. She managed to bend her arm at the elbow, her feet still weren’t working. She painfully pulled herself along the floor contemplating that honestly this was probably the safest position to be in with crazy hunters firing guns in a police station. She pulled herself around the corner just in time to see Matt pistol whip her father in the head. As he fell Stiles let out a scream. Matt turned his eyes locking on the still mostly paralyzed girl on the floor even as Mrs. McCall tried to draw his attention away from her. But instead of walking over to her he nodded towards her and something slimy wrapped around her neck and pulled her off the floor. Her hands barely listened to her but somehow she found herself clutching Jackson's tail as he carried her over to Matt who leveled the gun at her. He smirked. 

A roar shook the station again and Derek appeared in the doorway as if Stiles had summoned him. Matt seemed to decide, rightly so that the angered Alpha was a bigger threat than Stiles and the Kanima dropped her as Mrs. McCall screamed. She landed hard about four feet away from her father. Unable to really stop her fall she cracked her head on the floor and her whole world blurred as Scott finally made his appearance bowling Matt of his feet as Derek and the Kanima wrestled. Stiles really wanted to stay awake to see how the fight turned out, if she was going to die she’d honestly rather see it coming so she knew who to come back and haunt. But the pain in her head became too much and she passed out. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

She didn’t know how much later it was that she woke up but she was being loaded onto a stretcher and finally had the use of all her limbs again. She groaned and three people practically materialized at her side. Derek and Scott on her right and her dad on her left. She breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to her dad.

“You ok?” He nodded. 

“From what Melisa tells me I have Derek and Scott to thank for that.” Scott’s smile was slightly forced and Derek’s ears had turned pink. Stiles swore as she sat up the EMT looking disapproving. She rubbed her head. 

“Ow. What about Matt?” Her father shook his head. 

“We haven’t found him yet, but they’re asking me to stay.” One of the officers who hadn’t been on duty that night stepped up to her father’s side and whispered something in his ear. He pulled a face Stiles recognized as his good news bad news face. She grabbed him by the hand. 

“What is it?” Her father sighed and lowered his voice. 

“They just found Matt. He’s dead. Drowned by the looks of it. They want me to take a look.” Stiles nodded letting go of his hand. 

“Go be an amazing cop dad.” He nodded and looked at Derek and Scott. 

“Look after her.” Scott nodded. The EMT took her over to the ambulance but since she was awake and responsive she refused to be taken to the hospital. He pronounced her with a minor concussion and left her alone with Scott and Derek. Scott looked like a kicked puppy. Stiles reached out to him and he accepted the hug she offered him. He spoke as he held on. 

“My mom knows. I don’t know what to do.” Stiles squeezed him a touch tighter. 

“We’ll figure this out. I know we will.” Derek had started to pull away looking almost sad when Stiles called out to him.

“This isn’t over is it? They didn’t say anything about Jackson, which means this didn’t end when Matt died. But we’re back to square one aren’t we?” Derek shook his head. 

“No. I know who killed Matt, and who the Kanima’s new master is.” He took a deep breath and glared down at the dirt like it had personally offended him. “It’s Gerard.” Stiles swore. Derek nodded. 

“This is nowhere near over.” With that he slipped off into the darkness.


	8. The Birds

“Lydia, is that from the accident?” Stiles asked as she pointed at a bandage on Lydia’s ankle. Lydia shook her head.

“No. Prada bit me.” Stiles raised an eyebrow. 

“Your dog?” Lydia glared at Stiles for a moment before answering her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“No my designer handbag. Yes my dog.” Stiles frowned leaning back in her chair. There was silence for a moment but Stiles couldn’t keep quiet. This couldn’t be a coincidence. 

“Has he ever bitten you before?” Lydia’s face changed slightly. Her eyes were drifting slightly like they did when she was having one of her visions. She shook her head. 

“No. He hasn’t.” Both girls jumped nearly a foot into the air as something slammed into the window. Miss. Blake stopped speaking at the front of the classroom and glanced at the window. There was a small patch of shattered glass stained red. Black feathers stuck to the blood that spread into the cracks. One of the other girls in the classroom screamed. Stiles made to stand but before she could she spotted the black cloud of birds. She swore under her breath and the birds began to slam into the windows. She leapt out of her chair and shoved Lydia to the ground as one of the windows shattered. Suddenly the room was full of ravens screeching, and students screaming. Stiles felt talons dig into her shoulders and let out a cry of pain as she felt blood drip through her shirt. One of the ravens dove at her face and her eyes glowed purple blasting it back slightly but not before it slashed a talon across her cheek drawing more blood. The door to the classroom burst open and Erica and Boyd rushed in. They were armed with books, clearly having smelled not only the blood but the other people in the room. They dove into the melee as Jackson slid into the room and snatched a hefty text book off Miss Blake’s desk batting at the birds that flew at his face. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Within moments the commotion was over and the students began pulling themselves to their feet. Stiles found Erica and Boyd practically lifting her off her feet, setting her on one of the few still standing desks. Jackson helped Lydia up. She looked shaken but unharmed. The floor of the classroom was littered with dead ravens, some of which were still twitching and the sounds of police and ambulance sirens rung through the school. Within moments Sheriff Stilinski was rushing in with several of the other officers. They holstered their weapons as the paramedics rushed in to take care of the students. Stiles slipped her phone out of her pocket and into Erica’s hand. The paramedic said she’d need stitches for both of her injuries. Stiles pouted. Stitches meant scaring, on her face. She let them load her into the ambulance anyway as her father hovered. Since he was medically trained the paramedic stayed behind to help with other more minor wounds. Once they were alone the Sheriff turned to Stiles. 

“The hell was that?” Stiles shook her head. 

“Not sure. But I’m working on a theory.” The Sheriff sighed. 

“Does it involve your… furry friends?” He still had problems referring to them as the Pack. He’d found out about werewolves after Peter had kidnapped Stiles, again she might mention, and awakened her long locked away powers. Turned out her great grandfather on her mother’s side had been a fae, making her a Fae Born, as Deaton called her. Even though she was several times removed from the magical member of her family she’d gained the perk of magical powers, unfortunately unlike the big bad bite those didn’t come with improved healing and she wasn’t quite to the healing spells in her mother’s book yet. So, she sat and let Melissa McCall stitch her up. When she was done she insisted on being released and drove her Jeep, which her father had been kind enough to pick up from school for her, over to the old Hale house. Erica had dropped off her phone, she and Boyd were supposed to be guarding Isaac today so it had been on her way. Scott hadn’t answered any of her calls though. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stiles eased herself out of the Jeep and slammed the door behind her with her arm that wasn’t in a sling. She’d just gotten out of the cast she’d had to get after Gerard broke her arm. Luckily the sling would only be for about a week, just so she didn’t tear her stitches. She made her way up to the freshly painted door and was about to start pounding on it but it opened before she could. 

Derek’s eyes were glowing red and for a moment Stiles thought that he was going to yell at her but instead he gently cupped her face turning so he could see the gauze pad on her cheek. It was speckled with red. His eyes seemed to glow a bit more brightly when he spotted the blood on the white medical fabric and on the back of her torn shirt. 

“What happened?” He growled, but he sounded almost concerned as black veins appeared on his hands and the sting from the fading anesthesia vanished. Scott poked his head around the door looking confused. Stiles would have glared at Scott if she wasn’t too busy staring into Derek’s eyes. Scott cleared his throat and Derek seemed to realize how close he was standing and stepped back. Stiles had never wanted to punch her best friend more. 

“Well you’d know if Scott answered his fucking phone!” She managed not to stammer at the look that still filled Derek’s eyes. There was a warmth there, she’d felt it when he took her pain, but eyes like that hid a beast that could swallow her whole. She wasn’t sure she would mind that, but she didn’t have time to think about that now. So instead she explained the Hitchcockian events of the school day. Ignoring Scott again she turned back to Derek.

“It’s the Alpha pack, isn’t it? They’re finally making their move?” Derek nodded slightly. 

“They’re finally going to stop hiding.” His voice was still gravelly and his eyes still glowed bright red as he eyed Stiles’ injuries. Stiles couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine.


	9. Found

Derek couldn’t find his pack. He was starting to panic, not that he’d ever say it out loud but he was worried. Scott wasn’t answering his phone, which was par for the course with the young wolf but Stiles wasn’t answering her phone either. That was what was making his wolf howl in concern. He raced through the woods, following the trail Erica and Boyd probably didn’t realize that they had left. He felt his heart give a particularly violent twist when he found himself in the trees behind Stiles’ house. He thanked his lucky stars that it was already nighttime as he scaled the house easily and gently pried open her window. He landed softly on the floor and felt his mouth fall open at the sight before him. 

Stiles was laying in the middle of her bed, but she wasn’t the only one there. Erica was laying with her head on Stiles’ stomach like the other girl was her personal pillow. Boyd was wrapped around Erica to the point where Derek could barely tell where one wolf began and the other ended. Scott was curled up on Stiles’ left one hand wrapped in her t shirt near her shoulder like she was a blanket he was intent on never letting go of. Isaac was curled around Scott in a nearly identical fashion to Boyd and Erica. Jackson was spooning Lydia, both of them wrapped around Stiles’ legs. There was a soft laugh from the doorway and Derek whirled to find the Sheriff standing there smiling at the scene before him. He put a finger up to his lips as Scott snuffled slightly in his sleep, shifting closer to Stiles. Derek nodded and followed the older man out of the room, his wolf howling for him to join the pile of sleeping wolves on the bed. 

“I’m honestly surprised you didn’t show up sooner.” The sheriff said pouring him a mug of coffee. Derek accepted silently, the question on his face seemingly enough for the sheriff to read him like a book. 

“It’s been going on for a while now. It started with Erica and Boyd. They kept showing up in the middle of the night to check on her after Gerard.” Derek’s hands tightened on the mug in his hands but he made no comment. The sheriff didn’t call him out on it either, simply sipped his own coffee and continued speaking. 

“Isaac started showing up about a month ago.” That made some sense to Derek. About a month and a half ago Peter had kidnapped Stiles and released her powers that her mother had locked away before her death. With their release came the revelation that Derek had known Stiles before the Hale fire, his wolf had always been attracted to her but without the memories Stiles’ mother had locked away to keep her safe he’d never realized why. But now all the wolves looked to her as a senior pack member, mostly because that’s what she was. Isaac was one of the more emotionally fragile of his wolves and he couldn’t always offer the comfort the boy needed. Stiles was better with feelings. 

“Scott has been coming over on and off since this whole thing started, he seemed a bit upset that the others were here but he got over it, after Stiles talked to him.” Derek nodded. Stiles was good at getting the wolves to back down, Scott deferred to her like she was his second in command, he still claimed they were both separate from the pack but Derek’s nose told him otherwise. 

“Jackson and Lydia showed up about two weeks ago. Said something about training. They all flopped down and never really left.” The sheriff set his mug into the sink with a slight smile. 

“I’m just glad most of you know how to use a door.” He looked at Derek pointedly and the wolfs ears went red at the tips as he stared down at the floor. The sheriff sighed and grabbed his keys off the counter. 

“I need to get to work. Don’t push them too hard Derek, they are just kids.” Derek nodded his eyes flicking up the stairs towards Sties’ room as the Sheriff left. Derek washed out his mug and dried his hands before slinking up the stairs back into the room where his pack was still sound asleep. They had shifted slightly, the pile of bodies moving closer together around Stiles. Derek’s wolf grumbled at him, join them, it seemed to rumble as it caught the scent of pack. For once he let himself listen to his wolf and crept into the pile of bodies. Erica and Boyd shifted, still asleep, instinctively making room for him in the center of the Pack. Stiles whimpered slightly as the warmth of two wolves left her behind. She reached out and latched onto the closest thing her wandering hands could find which was Derek’s arm. Before he knew what was happening he was being dragged into the center of the pile. Erica rolled over so she was halfway on top of him. Stiles had wound herself around him like an octopus, there was no way he was getting out of here any time soon.

 

But as the pack settled back down and the sounds of resting heartbeats and light snoring filled the room he found he didn’t quite mind. Stiles’ head had flopped off her pillow onto his chest, right above his heart, a small smile on her face. He felt himself relax against his own better judgment as the scent of pack calmed his wolf, making it practically purr. He felt himself drift off to sleep and let it happen, for the first time in a long time he didn’t dream of flames.


	10. The Bus

“I’m telling you there’s no body he’s not dead. Incongruous, somebody define it.” Scott sighed as Boyd and Isaac curled up in the seat in front of them. Isaac was whimpering slightly. Boyd nodded at Stiles. 

“Can you use it in a sentence?” Stiles sighed.

“Yeah. It’s completely incongruous that we’re sitting on a bus heading to a cross country meet after what happened last night, which none of you told me about until Scott showed up at my house with a chunk out of his side, which still hast healed. You are all in the dog house as far as I’m concerned.” Boyd hunched in on himself slightly. Isaac looked like a puppy that had just had its tail stepped on. Stiles glanced over at the seat across the bus from them. Ethan was checking his phone again. Stiles’ eyes dipped back to the ipad in her hands.

“Come on someone define it.” Scott sighed. 

“Crazy, stupid, out of place.” Stiles nodded and flipped her finger across the screen. 

“Alright next. Darach.” They were silent for a moment. Stiles sighed. 

“It’s a noun for those who were wondering.” Scott growled slightly. Stiles rolled her eyes slightly. 

“We need to talk about it at some point! Four people are dead, two more missing. We need to talk about this.” Scott leaned his head against the window, he looked green around the edges. Stiles sighed. Too much had happened in the past day. Derek was MIA, the rest of the pack believed him dead but Stiles couldn’t believe it. Something in her told her that he was still alive that she would know if Derek ever really died. She rubbed a hand through her hair and shoved her tablet back into her bag instead pulling out her book. She flipped to the back. 

“There’s a section in my mothers book, it deals with druids. It doesn’t say anything about a darach. So I did some research last night, while you lot were out trying to get yourselves killed.” She pulled a sheaf of paper out of her book. Isaac frowned. 

“Do you ever sleep?” Stiles shook her head. 

“Lately no. But that doesn’t matter.” Boyd shook his head. 

“Kinda matters to us.” Stiles glanced up at him. If she wasn’t mistaken it sounded like he cared. She shook her head again and rifled through the papers. 

“Now I didn’t find much about the Darach itself, the internet has failed me yet again.” Isaac frowned. 

“If you didn’t find much what’s all that?” Stiles kept digging.

“Information on Lai Lines. Sort of magical conduit lines. It’s actually fascinating stuff and if the maps I found are right Beacon Hills has a ton of them running through it, which I think is why the Darach picked our quaint little town for its murder spree but that’s not important right now.” She made a noise of triumph and fished out a piece of paper covered in symbols. She spun it around and pointed to a symbol on the bottom of the page. 

“Look familiar?” Boyd nodded. It was the symbol from the bank where they’d found Cora Hale and the beta’s the alpha pack had forced her to kill. Boyd frowned. 

“Why is that important though?” Stiles sighed. 

“That symbol keeps cropping up. Along with a few others.” She pointed to the hastily drawn versions of Derek’s tattoo next to the symbol of the alpha pack. 

“They all mean something. Derek’s tattoo is a triskelion. They usually are used to refer to a holy or sacred trinity. Maiden, Mother, Crone, to some. Father, Son, and Holy spirit to others, but to him it means Alpha, Beta, Omega. But the Alpha packs symbol is twisted. The curves are replaced with jagged edges. Harmony with chaos. Because a pack isn’t supposed to be all alphas.” Boyd nodded his eyes flicking to Scott who was still leaning against the window looking worse by the minute. Stiles noticed Boyd wasn’t paying attention to her anymore and glanced at Scott. She swore under her breath and yanked on his shirt. That more than anything seemed to wake him up. He yelped and jumped away from her hands she scowled at him. 

“You big baby. I cant help you if you don’t show me why it’s not healing.” Scott let her pull up the side of his shirt that was covered in black and red fluid. Stiles swore and flicked through her book. She found what she was looking for and glanced around. So far no one else on the bus had taken notice of them but this was about to get a bit more interesting. She glanced up at Isaac and Boyd. 

“Keep a lookout.” Isaac’s hand shot out, grabbing hold of Stiles’ wrist. 

“What if Ethan finds out?” Stiles glared at him.   
“I don’t care right now, my best friend is dying. I’m not losing him.” Isaac leg go and nodded. He and Boyd turned back to the rest of the bus. Stiles flipped another page and skimmed the page quickly.

“I’m trying to help ok big guy don’t scratch me ok.” Scott nodded weakly and let Stiles lay a hand on the wound. She took a deep breath and read out the words on the page in a hushed whisper. Her eyes lit up purple and it leaked down through her veins to her hand and out into Scotts wound. He groaned and seized for a minute before breathing a touch easier. The wound still wasn’t closing but a thin film of purple light had formed over it keeping him from losing anymore blood. Stiles tilted her head back and groaned. Isaac whirled and missed Ethan turning to them and catching Stiles’ eyes flicking from violet back to their normal brown. Boyd growled. 

“Boyd, not helping.” Stiles swore and pulled her phone out of her pocket. 

“Fuck it, I’m calling Lydia.” Scott frowned. 

“What good is that gonna do? She’s back in Beacon Hills.” Stiles shook her head glancing out the back of the bus. 

“She and Allison have been following us since we pulled out of the lot. I’d bet good money Erica snuck into the car somehow.” She pressed the phone to her ear. It took a minute to explain everything to them but after a whispered argument the conclusion that the bus needed to stop. Stiles heaved a sigh and tossed her phone at Isaac to go argue with the coach.


	11. The Glen Capris

If you were to ask Stiles what she was thinking when she stepped onto the gas her best friend had poured all over himself and the ground around him she would reply that it was none of your business. But Lydia and Alison knew the truth, because she hadn’t been able to do anything but speak her mind when they’d found Scott clutching the road flare in his hand. They’d been looking for the road flares so they could snap Scott out of whatever fog had settled over all the wolves that were staying at the Glen Capris. They’d snapped Ethan out of it first, though that had taken Stiles wrestling a hand saw away from him and accidently shoving him into a running heater. Next was Boyd who’d tried to drown himself by setting a safe on his chest while he lay back in a bathtub full of water. 

 

Stiles had summoned her power and burned his foot to shock him out of it, which it had done quite well. Lydia had found Isaac hiding under the bed and Stiles had coaxed him into her arms and burned him too, to shock him out of his own stupor. She’d never tell anyone that he’d been calling her mom as he tried to burry himself in her shirt. Jackson had been curled up on his bed sobbing about the police department and the bodies everywhere. If he hadn’t been rooming with Scott, who had been nowhere to be seen, they would have had some serious explaining to do. Lydia kept him still so Stiles could burn him too and free him from his memories of being the Kanima. Erica had managed to lock herself in a closet and was wailing something about Gerard. Alison had waited outside for that one. Erica had latched onto Stiles in a very similar way to Isaac which had made shocking her out of whatever this was much easier. But Stiles was running low on energy at that point. She wasn’t going to be able to burn Scott like she had the others she was already pretty close to passing out, hence the need for the road flares and the discovery of the boy she’d come to love as a brother standing next to the bus dripping in gas. 

 

She had meant every word she’d said, she didn’t really want to live in a world that didn’t have her brother in it. If he was going to do this she was going with him. She could just see Lydia out of the corner of her eyes. The redhead had her hands clutched over her mouth and tears running down her face as Stiles carefully and slowly eased the flare out of Scott’s hand. Once she had it in her own hand she threw it as far as she could and wrapped Scott in a hug. She didn’t see the flare move on its own but she felt it as Lydia tackled her and Scott out of the pool of gas they were still standing in which went up in flames barely a millisecond after they landed on the safe dry asphalt. Stiles heard Erica scream from the balcony behind them. Stiles heard footsteps running towards them and felt Scott’s arms tighten around her. He was shaking. 

 

They were pulled to their feet by Isaac, Boyd, Erica and Jackson. The whole group just stood there, holding each other for a few minutes. Scott spoke first, well he wasn’t really talking, he was mumbling apologies. Stiles shook her head and assured him that it wasn’t his fault. Boyd and Isaac ushered them into their room and closed the door. Once Scott was fully back to himself they separated and both decided a shower was necessary.

 

Once all the gas was washed away they all decided that none of them were going to be able to sleep in these rooms, so they snuck onto the bus and Boyd and Erica immediately curled up together and began to snore slightly. Alison flopped down across from Scott, Lydia and Jackson took the seat across from Erica and Boyd. Stiles stumbled and felt Isaac wrap an arm around her to keep her standing. He pulled her into the seat behind Scott. The others all fell asleep easily enough exhausted by the events of the day and the night that had followed. Isaac buried his nose in Stiles’ hair. She glanced up at him. He seemed to be doing what worried wolves did to pack leaders. But maybe werewolves worked differently. Stiles couldn’t be sure. At least until Isaac spoke, his voice hushed. 

“It was like I was back in the fridge.” Stiles tensed and then wrapped her arms around him. She readjusted them so he was in her arms her hands playing gently with his curls. She would swear he was purring. 

“I’m sorry Isaac.” He cuddled closer to her and she began to quietly hum a lullaby she remembered her mother singing to her when she had nightmares. Soon Isaac was asleep in her lap. She smiled down at him slightly and tilted her head back against the window. It took her some time to fall asleep, it was never easy without her pillow but she managed it a few hours before Coach Finstock barged onto the bus looking for them.


	12. Back In Town

Stiles knew something was off when she got back to her Jeep after limping off the bus from the eventful night the cross country team had spent at the Glen Capris and slipping away from the small crowd of teen wolves. First off, she needed to air up her left back tire. She was also pretty sure there hadn’t been a bloody smear on her blue jeep when she’d left it early yesterday morning. She didn’t really think as she hopped into her jeep and drove off. It was only when she found herself pulling into the Loft’s parking lot that she began to question her life choices. She sat in her jeep for about five minutes, almost expecting to see one of the puppies chasing her car. When they didn’t show up Stiles swore under her breath and slammed her way out of the jeep and into Derek’s building. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Derek sat bolt upright when he heard the whine of the bright blue jeep pull into his parking lot. He’d know the sound of that Jeep anywhere. The engine cut and he could hear her heartbeat. She didn’t move for a few minutes and Derek jumped slightly as Jennifer put her hand on his arm. He glanced at her and she smiled. 

“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.” She glanced at his alarm clock and swore scrambling for her clothes. 

“I’m gonna be late for work!” He almost laughed at her as she shrugged on her shirt and pulled on her skirt desperately searching for her heels. He snagged one from behind his bed and handed it over as she snagged the other from under his desk. She flipped her hair and laughed as she pulled on her shoe. 

“Sorry. I need to go.” Derek nodded. 

“It’s ok. I’ll see you later.” She smiled slightly and nodded as she grabbed her purse from where she’d dropped it and left. He was almost glad. He didn’t really want Stiles to know he’d gone to her teacher. She hadn’t been his first choice. He’d stumbled his way out of the old abandoned mall and off before the Alpha Pack could come back for Ennis. He’d ended up finding his way to the school, it was one of the places in Beacon Hills where she spent the most time. It, her house, the library, one of the bookstores downtown and her signature blue jeep all smelled like her. He’d made his way to the jeep and ended up smearing a long trail of blood above the left wheel well. But her scent had been a few hours old here, she’d already left and he wasn’t sure he could wait for her to come back, he needed help and he still wasn’t sure who he could trust. Then he’d caught Jennifer’s scent. So he’d gone to her. The sex hadn’t been planned. He had admittedly enjoyed himself but it hadn’t been planned and he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But the alarm had started buzzing which meant Stiles was outside the door. He stood pulling on his boxers and walking over to the door and pulling it open.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Whatever Stiles had been preparing herself for it wasn’t this. It wasn’t Derek Hale, a perfectly healthy very much not dead Derek by the way, standing in nothing but a rumpled pair of black boxers, his hair a mess, looking like sex on legs. Her brain shorted out for a moment until he raised an eyebrow at her, the glint in his green eyes the only sign of his amusement at her expense. She hated the blush that rose in her cheeks and she tried to speak for a moment before taking her eyes off his abs, seriously you could grind meat on those things and she was trying very hard not to think of what it would be like to run her fingers over them.

‘No bad Stiles! Focus!’ She took her eyes off the Alpha of all underwear models and spoke clearly this time. 

“So I see you’re not actually dead, glad to know I was right, again.” In keeping her eyes off him, and thus his thoroughly lickable abs, she missed his flinch. He had almost forgotten that yes his whole pack probably thought he was dead after that fight with everything that had happened last night. Then he caught what she’d said. 

“Wait, what do you mean you were right?” He stepped back and pulled the door closed after she stepped in, taking a very vested interest in his tiny spiral staircase. 

“I knew you weren’t dead. The others were still a bit iffy on the subject until this morning, but I knew.” Derek felt his ears turn slightly red as Stiles fiddled with something on his desk. He stepped forwards. 

“How did you know?” Stiles turned and found Derek a step away from her still very much only in his boxers and had to blink at him for a minute to realize what he said. When she did she shrugged. 

“Just knew.” She said taking a vested interest in the desk again. She still wasn’t quite sure why exactly she was here but she knew he should probably know what had happened last night. Then she spotted something that made her frown. Derek spotted what she’d seen and just about swore. A pair of woman’s nylons lay where he had carelessly tossed them last night, ending up draped over his tiny night stand. This time when Stiles looked at him there was fire in her eyes. She pointed at the damning evidence of his late night romp and spoke, her eyes never dipping from his this time. He was almost disappointed. 

“Tell me you weren’t doing what I think you were doing last night.” She didn’t actually let him answer as her voice rose and she took a few steps forwards the fire in her eyes growing more intense. 

“Tell me that while Lydia, Alison and I were literally saving the lives and sanity of your pack you weren’t here, having a great time with some woman. Tell me that while Isaac was sobbing under a bed trying to hide from his dead father, Jackson was losing himself to what he did as the Kanima, Erica was jamming herself in a closet screaming that Gerard was going to kill her, Boyd tried to drown himself, and Scott and I almost got blown up by the dark fucking druid that no one wants to listen to me about, you weren’t here…” The accusation lay heavy in the air as Derek digested what Stiles had said. She made to storm out of his loft but he caught her around the waist and pulled her back to him. She squawked as he set her on the desk, caging her in with one arm on either side of her. She was about to yell at him but then she spotted that his eyes were glowing bright red, his teeth starting to grow slowly. 

“Tell me everything.” He demanded it. She took a breath, knowing he could hear her heart beating out a violent tattoo against her ribs but she scrubbed a hand over her eyes and told him all she knew. He never moved and when she reached the end of her tale of woe and near misses of the night before she realized just how close they were and petered off staring at him. He was silent for a moment before he leaned a bit closer. Stiles hadn’t thought that that was possible and her blood rushed back to her face turning it vaguely the shade of a tomato. 

“You took care of my pack?” His voice was more growly than normal, and for a moment Stiles got the impression that she wasn’t talking to the man but the wolf that lived under his skin. She could do nothing but nod. He leaned in even closer his face coming into contact with the curve of her neck. She froze, memories of threats of teeth and throats flashing across her mind. But there were no teeth tearing into her jugular, instead he began to nuzzle into her neck. His movements were gentle, something similar to what Isaac had done last night. Scent marking was what it was called when wolves did it to each other. She wondered what it was called when werewolves did it to a human. She wondered what someone would think if they walked in on this. 

She squeaked as his hands wandered up her arms, gently rubbing on any exposed skin. It wasn’t exactly like what Isaac had done. Isaac hadn’t been this… thorough. She couldn’t help the moan that slipped from her lips as she felt his teeth scrape gently over the pulse point at the base of her neck. Then the buzzer went off and they both jumped. Derek turned, one of his hands staying on hers as he growled at the door which was pulled open to reveal his sister, Cora who looked beyond relived that he was still alive and was followed closely by Peter who took one look at Derek’s hand still on Stiles, and his current state of undress and got a look on his face like the cat who ate the canary. He opened his mouth to speak and Stiles threw up her hands, knocking Derek’s hand off hers. 

“Nope! Ok. I’m gone, I have had enough weirdness for today. Bye.” She hopped off the desk, narrowly dodging Derek as he reached out for her and ran out of the room. She didn’t even bother to close the door behind her as she ran. Cora stared after her. Peter had spotted the nylons. He walked over to them and picked them up, catching a whiff of their owner, distinctly not Stiles, and frowned. 

“Derek.” The alpha turned to his uncle, still looking disappointed and slightly angry at being interrupted, though he honestly wasn’t even sure where he’d been planning on going with the scent marking. His wolf was howling in anger at him not having taken his Mate right there on the desk. She had been protecting his pack, he knew she was telling the truth about what had happened, her heartbeat had told him that. She smelled like Pack, she’d always smelled like home. He’d always wanted to burry his head in her neck. He realized he wasn’t paying attention to Peter when he got a face full of Jennifer’s left behind nylons. He growled out loud and glared at his uncle. 

“If you break Stiles’ heart, I’m gonna leave yours on her doorstep.” Cora stared between the two. All three Hales had been particularly protective of Stiles lately. Derek had begun to be more protective when he and Stiles had discovered that Peter was the Alpha who had killed Laura. Peter had begun to be protective, in his own way which usually meant that he lurked in the shadows when there might be something that wanted to kill her around, after the spell her mother had cast to make everyone forget Stiles’ powers had broken. Though he’d never say it aloud, this was because he remembered her as a big eyed bouncing child. Cora had remembered her from the moment they’d rescued her from the Alpha pack and was very protective of her because she too remembered that they were pack. She deferred to Stiles when Derek wasn’t around. She couldn’t help but agree with Peter. 

Derek rolled his eyes but his wolf growled in agreement with his uncle. But he didn’t say anything out loud. Instead he threw the nylons in the trash and walked over to his tiny dresser in the corner and began to get dressed he had to go talk to his pack.


	13. Childlike Behavior: Peter

Stiles grunted as a blast of power slammed into the shield she’d just had time to throw up around the pack. She really wished Derek was better at talking to people, if he was maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe the witch they were supposed to be making peace with wouldn’t be trying to kill them. 

“The hell did you even say to her Sourwolf!?” Stiles shouted across the field. Derek rolled his eyes leaping over the bright purple shield Stiles had cast around them and roaring. He honestly didn’t want to talk about how they’d been on the brink of a peace agreement when the witch had propositioned him and he’d turned her down hard. He had someone else he wanted to move forwards with. Well he wanted to, that didn’t mean he would do more than watch from the sidelines as she protected his pack and his wolf howled at him to take her and make her his. He dove to the side barely dodging a fire blast. He heard Stiles swear and her shield flickered. He glanced over his shoulder and stepped to the side so he was in front of her, between her and the danger. The witch tilted her head at them then smiled as Stiles sunk her hand into the dirt of the preserve and her shield stabilized and roots began to grow up around the witch’s ankles. Then she laughed. 

“Children’s tricks from an untrained Fae. Cute.” The roots burned and Stiles screamed pulling her hand out of the earth, her shield falling completely, her fingers burned. Derek roared and lunged. But the witch vanished and reappeared behind him directly in front of Stiles who gasped and stumbled back. But the witch was much faster than she was and caught her by the front of her red hoodie. The pack howled and circled unsure if they could do anything without hurting Stiles. The witch’s eyes flashed bright orange and for an instant brilliant white lines appeared from Stiles, each of them seeming to connect to a member of the Pack. Derek felt his heart seize as the witch fingered one of the bright lines of light as the others vanished. This one was swirled with gold and seemed to connect to him. Stiles’ heartbeat had stuttered at the same time as his as the witch grinned and released the line but not Stiles. 

“Oh so that’s why you turned me down.” She pressed a finger to Stiles’ forehead and Stiles shook from head to toe as bright orange light wrapped around her head. Derek’s growl shook the ground. The witch frowned as she turned her face to Derek. 

“She doesn’t know, what she is to you. You haven’t told her!” The look on her face told him that she knew that he hadn’t told Stiles she was his Mate, his always, his everything. She frowned deeper. “She thinks she’s nothing to you. Did you know that? Just another tool to use for the packs benefit.” Then the witch smiled. 

“I know just how to prove her wrong.” Then she began to chant and Stiles froze as orange smoke rose around her. Derek’s heart stood still as he heard Stiles let out a breathy scream. He lunged but his hands were met with empty air as the witch’s laugh filled the clearing. 

“When you can prove you treasure what you’ve lost the spell will break.” Wind swirled through the clearing and all the wolves coughed and swatted at the orange smoke that billowed around them. It took a few minutes for it to clear which gave Scott time to stumble over to the last place he’d seen his best friend. He couldn’t see her or Derek. He coughed as the smoke finally began to clear. Then he spotted Derek kneeling down next to a bundle of clothes. His heart nearly stopped. Had the witch vaporized Stiles? He was going to hunt her down to the ends of the earth if that was what had happened.

But Derek was holding a tiny figure in Stiles’ red hoodie. She couldn’t be more than three years old. She seemed to be fighting him too. He let her down, not wanting to hurt her and Scott got a good look at her for the first time. She had shoulder length curly brown hair and freckles scattered on her cheeks along with a few moles. Her big whiskey colored eyes were brimming with tears and she smelled confused. But he knew her. She looked just like she had when he’d first met her on the playground after she pushed Jackson down for teasing the new kid, which at the time had been him. He stared for a minute before stammering her name out loud. 

“Stiles?” She looked up at him confused and ran straight into his legs, holding onto them like they were the only familiar thing in the world. He gently knelt down and picked her up. She was still in the Star Wars t-shirt she’d been wearing all day that day but it was many times too big for her now and the hoodie was practically falling off of her as she wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and muttered his name. She clearly recognized him, but not Derek. She shivered and he held her a bit closer as the pack circled in looking confused. Peter raised an eyebrow. 

“Well this just got interesting.” Stiles glanced up at him and stared him down for a minute. It was almost unnerving but then she giggled and detached herself from Scott’s neck. She squirmed until he set her on her feet and she tottered over to Peter. She stared at him for another minute before she giggled again and placed her hands in front of her mouth like they were fangs. Peter just about laughed. He remembered her doing that a lot when she was younger over at the old Hale house. She had been incensed that even Cora, who was a year or so younger than her, could have fangs and she couldn’t. So that had been her solution. 

“Peter!” She reached her hands out to him and made a grabbing motion and Peter caved, scooping the tiny girl off her feet. Every other member of the pack tensed and Stiles looked at them like they were all crazy. Scott carefully stepped over to the pair aware what Peter could do to someone as tiny and defenceless as Stiles was right now. 

“Stiles… what are you doing?” Stiles looked at him like the answer to his question was obvious. 

“I know him! His sister is friends with my mom! He’s Peter, he’s a little weird but he’s ok.” She gestured Scott closer and whispered loudly in his ear, clearly unaware that everyone here could hear her clearly. 

“He’s a werewolf, but don’t tell anybody. It’s a secret!” She giggled and Peter couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his mouth. Derek stepped closer and Stiles shrieked and buried her head in Peter’s shoulder. Peter outright laughed at the expression on Derek’s face. A mix of betrayal and a soft kind of anger, the kind not really directed at the child in his arms. 

“How come she remembers you two but not me?” He sounded like he was about to start pouting. Peter shrugged.

“No idea but we should probably get her to Deaton, see if there’s been any lasting damage done. And if he can help us figure out how to break the spell.” He turned to the tiny child in his arms and spoke carefully. “What do you think Stiles, do you think we should go in the Jeep or the Camero?” Stiles glanced up at him and thought for a minute. 

“Jeep. I like jeeps. I wanna drive a jeep when I’m older. But it’s got to be blue.” Peter nodded along with the small girl’s babble as Scott fished her keys out of the jeans she’d been wearing. He held them out to Peter who shook his head. 

“You drive. I’ve got her.” Scott felt a little better knowing that he would be within inches of the now three year old girl who was like his sister. He gathered her fallen clothes and followed Peter out of the clearing. The other wolves milled for a moment before Erica caught Derek by the arm. 

“We’re gonna fix this. Stop pouting, it’s weird.” They heard a shrill shriek from back where they’d parked their cars and raced off. They expected to find Scott dead with Peter standing with a tiny corpse in his arms but they found Stiles nearly bouncing out of Peter’s arms. She had spotted the jeep. 

“It’s perfect! Who’s is it?” She asked bouncing in Peter’s arms. He smiled as Scott stepped up to his shoulder. 

“Yours when you’re old enough!” There were stars in her eyes as she looked at Scott.

“Really!” Scott nodded. They loaded up into the cars, Erica and Boyd slipping into the backseat of the Jeep, Peter holding Stiles in the passenger seat while Scott drove. It only took a few minutes for Stiles to nod off in Peter’s arms. Erica stared at him. 

“You seem good with kids.” Peter nodded at his nephew’s beta. 

“Well yes. I had two of my own, once upon a time.” He looked down at Stiles, a little sad this time. Erica leaned back in her seat watching the wolf in the front seat hum a song to the sleeping child in his arms.


	14. Childlike Behavior: Erica and Boyd

Erica didn’t like Deaton. She didn’t trust him. Much less so when he had Peter set Stiles on the table and set out a bunch of tubes for her to play with while they talked about what had happened. It didn’t take long for Stiles to break one of the tubes and cut her hand. But the adults in the room didn’t seem to notice. So Erica scooped up the crying child and stole her pain while Boyd snagged a roll or bandages from the cabnet and wrapped her finger. Stiles laughed and cuddled closer to Erica who picked up the glass as Stiles turned back to the pile of stuff she was playing with. Erica wanted to stop her but Stiles hushed her and went back to drawing nonsense in the dust. The she-wolf wasn’t sure if it was mountain ash or not. But she let Stiles play. 

The tiny version of her friend was adorable, constantly getting her hair in her face. Erica giggled as her hair fell in her face again and she let out a frustrated squeak. Boyd took Erica’s hand and slipped a rubber band off her wrist. He stepped up behind Stiles and quietly began to braid her hair. Erica raised an eyebrow as he finished the rather intricate fishtail and expertly slipped on the rubber band. Stiles glanced at her hair and beamed at Boyd before she went back to playing with the dirt. Boyd grinned and buried his head in Erica’s hair. Erica turned to him and held him. He spoke quietly, knowing the other wolves in the room weren’t listening. 

“I used to braid my sister’s hair like that.” Erica felt her heart tighten. Boyd had told her about his sister, that she’d gone missing while he was supposed to be watching her. That she’d never been found. He sniffled into her hair and she held him tighter. Stiles seemed to have noticed that they were distressed. She pulled on what she could reach of Erica’s shirt and the she-wolf turned to the child, still in Boyd’s arms. Boyd glanced up at the little girl. Once Stiles was sure she had both of their attentions she placed her hands on the little mound in front of her that she’d surrounded with the weird symbols that were all over her mothers book. Her face screwed up in concentration and Erica watched in amazement as a bright purple lily bloomed from the pile of dust. Stiles cracked open one eye, which was glowing purple. She giggled in delight drawing the attention of every other person in the room. She carefully plucked the flower from the pile of dust as her eyes faded back to brown. She tugged on Erica’s shirt again and the she-wolf let her pull her close and tuck the flower behind her ear. Tiny Stiles smiled again and went back to drawing symbols in the dirt. Erica leaned back into Boyd’s arms. 

“I want one.” She whispered and he laughed into her hair. 

“Maybe we’ll make that happen in a few years. I gotta get a ring first.” She turned in his arms and laid a kiss on his lips as three year old Stiles laughed at them from the vet’s table.


	15. Ice Cold Darkness

Derek stepped forwards. He wasn’t going to let Stiles do this. He couldn’t watch her die. He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let her do this. But the look in her eyes was something that he could feel tearing his heart in half. Deaton kept talking.

“It can’t just be someone to hold you under, it has to be someone who can pull you back as well.” There was a pause. “Lydia you go with Stiles.” Stiles stepped forwards her head lowered, eyes glued to her father’s badge in her hands. 

“No. If it’s someone who has to be able to pull me back it needs to be Derek.” The whole room was silent for a moment. Derek’s breath stuttered. 

“No! I… Stiles you can’t make me do this.” Stiles turned to him. 

“I’m not making you do anything. I’m asking you to help me. To help me find the only person in the world who gives a damn about me, the only family I’ve got left.” The room was quiet for a moment.

“Stiles, you know I care about you.” Scott said stepping forwards.

“Yeah really felt the love when you left with Deucalion and I didn’t hear from you for nearly two days. While I was getting interrogated by you dad because mine’s missing. Or when Allison and Isaac went incommunicado for three hours, yeah I get your dad locked you in the vault but you still had your god damned phone. The only person who has actually helped me in the past week is Lydia but… It can’t be her.” Stiles sounded so sure of herself, Lydia might have been offended if she wasn’t so scared. Instead she was just confused. 

“Why not?” Stiles shook her head. Her eyes glowed slightly but didn’t quite manage to change. She’d been running on what Peter coined Low Battery for nearly a month now. If she wasn’t she might have been able to find the Nematon without the need for this but she wasn’t strong enough. She’d spent nearly all her energy closing Boyd’s wounds and kickstarting his healing enough to save his life. He was still recovering, and she’d spent nearly two days unconscious after that. Derek had been terrified he was going to lose her, he’d stayed by her until the moment she had woken. After that he’d kept her at arm’s length but now he could see how bad a decision that had been. She thought they didn’t care. He reached out to her, caught her in his arms, held on when she tried to step away. She sighed. 

“Derek, Scott and Isaac all have a sense, something that tells them when somethings not quite right. My powers might not be working enough to help right now, but they still tell me some things. It has to be Derek.” Derek looked down at her and his eyes flashed blue. His wolf knew it wasn’t an Alpha anymore, but it still howled for Stiles. It was set on ripping Jennifer to shreds. The bitch had to die. She’d hurt Stiles, hurt her by taking her father, by briefly tempting Derek away from his Mate. He wanted to bury his head in her hair and stay there where she was safe in his arms. But the full moon was tomorrow night and it was the best shot they had to end this once and for all. And they couldn’t do that if they couldn’t find and stop the sacrifice. He turned Stiles around in his arms and gently tilted her head back so she was looking into his eyes. 

“Stiles you’re not asking me to pull you back. You’re asking me to kill you. I… I need you. I can’t watch another person I care about die.” He felt Stiles tense in his arms. There were tears in her eyes as she buried her head in his chest for a moment. Then she pulled back and turned to Lydia.

“Will you still help me?” The redhead froze, tears beginning to spill from her eyes. She knew what Stiles was asking, she was asking if, knowing that Stiles didn’t believe that she would make it back without Derek she would still force her friend under the water. Jackson made to step out of the corner he’d been standing in since this all began. He growled at Stiles, she couldn’t make Lydia do this. But Derek stepped between him and Stiles a growl of his own slipping past his lips. He grabbed Stiles’ hand and spun her around into his arms again. Scott looked like he had some things to say about that but he made no move to hurt her. Instead he did what he’d been wanting to do for a while now. He buried his head in her hair, it was nearly shoulder length now and he barely heard her squeak in surprise. He briefly nuzzled the crown of her head for a moment before fitting his head into the crook of her neck and scent marking her, thoroughly. He spoke, whispering into the skin just below her ear.

“Promise me you’ll come back. Because if you don’t, I’m coming in after you.” Stiles wrapped a hand in his hair and let him hold her for another moment before she nodded. He rubbed his nose against her skin for another moment, not caring that the others in the room were watching, not caring that Scott’s eyes flashed at him for a moment. There was no jealousy coming from him, just fear and concern for his friend. Then he stepped back, keeping Stiles’ hand in his as long as he could. 

“Alright, if you think I’m the best way to get you back then I’ll help.” Stiles breathed out a sigh, some of the tension that had been ingrained into her shoulders over the past few days melting. Derek wanted to feel proud but he couldn’t bring himself to do it as Stiles toed off her shoes. Scott eyed him almost curiously but nodded at Deaton who took his spot behind the furthest tub to the left. Isaac positioned himself behind the tub to the far right and Derek took his que to stand behind the one in the middle. Before she could step into the tub he caught her hand again pulling her close. He knew it might be his last chance to tell her, everything she was to him but the words stuck in his throat and instead a different something came out. 

“You know why it has to be me.” That wasn’t a question, he could see it in her eyes. “Why?” That most definitely was a question, one he was desperate to know the answer to. If she felt the same way he did… But no that was wishful thinking. He wasn’t that lucky, but the rosy blush that rose on her pale freckled cheeks told him that maybe, just maybe he was.

“When I get back, we’ll talk about it.” There was conviction in her voice and her eyes as she turned her hand in his and squeezed before dropping his hand and stepping into the icy water. For a few moments the three sacrifices, for there was no other word for what they were, sat in the water shivering. Stiles could feel her fingers going numb, her teeth chattering. She looked up as Derek placed his large hands on her shoulders. She glanced at Allison and then Scott the two of them nodded and Stiles nodded at Derek knowing that, weakened or not he could still hear her heart going a mile a minute. She nodded again and he pushed her under the water. 

She didn’t take a breath before she slipped under. It would just take more time. She’d nearly drowned before but that time she’d been saving Derek, not letting him hold her under. There was an irony there she thought as her last breath bubbled out of her lungs and water rushed in. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The irony wasn’t lost on Derek who shook as he held Stiles under the water as her body seized before giving in to the water in her lungs. He listened as her heart stuttered and suddenly stopped. Derek let go like he’d been burned, tripping backwards and nearly falling as he stared at the ice that had floated above Stiles’ face, so he could no longer see her lifeless empty eyes. He was sure that he would never forget that face, that it would be added to his nightmares of screams and burning. He tried to take a deep breath but didn’t quite manage it. He turned to Deaton who was wiping the water off his arms, eyes averted from the tub containing his unmoving protégé. 

“How long?” Derek bit it out like every word hurt him and in all honesty they did. Every breath he took in a world without Stiles hurt him. Having watched the light leave her eyes as they slipped closed hurt worse than Kali shoving a piece of rebar through his intestines. Deaton passed the rag to a shaking Isaac who nearly dropped it. 

“They should only be under for a few minutes but…” Derek’s head shot up a growl building in his throat. 

“But what!” Deaton shook his head. 

“Things like this are never certain. It should be a few minutes. But it could be an hour maybe two. Magic is never exact, you should know that, spending as much time with Stiles as you do, or at least as you should.” Derek glared at him a full out growl slipping from his lips as his fangs slipped out.

“I just had to hold my Mate under ice cold water until it killed her. And now you fucking tell me you don’t know when she’s going to wake up.” The room was tense for a minute. Lydia spoke first stepping out of the corner where she’d been huddled in Jackson’s arms tears still streaking down her face. 

“Mate?” She asked, and Derek flinched his eyes zeroing in on Stiles. Her fingernails were turning blue, still holding her father’s badge in loose fingers. He curled in on himself as he nodded. Lydia knew what that meant. So did everyone else in the room from the looks on their faces. Jackson and Isaac wore twin looks of shock but Deaton looked less than surprised. 

“Only a wolf who has found their true mate could be strong enough to survive the transfer of power you used to save your sister. But to be honest I knew from the minute you remembered her. You’ve grown overly protective of her and you’ve taken to scent marking her at every opportunity.” Isaac nodded. 

“I did notice she smells more and more like you but I didn’t know what it meant.” Derek glared at his shoes could this day get much worse? He plopped down next to Stiles’ tub and gently placed his hand over hers. She was so cold. He wanted to snatch her out of the icy water, warm her any way he could, but he couldn’t. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Fifteen and a half hours passed. Derek couldn’t bare it. Even Deaton was worried. Derek’s wolf was howling, on the brink of insanity, only years of practice and control kept him from ripping everyone in the room apart for this stupid idea. There was no way to find the Nematon now, but he didn’t really care anymore. He checked his watch. The moon would be rising in a little less than five hours. Kali would come for him then. Good. He didn’t want to live in a world without those honey whiskey eyes in it. He stood. Lydia, who’d taken up a spot next to him, between him and Allison a few hours ago, caught his wrist. 

“Where are you going?” He shook his head, eyes stinging with unshed tears.

“The moon will be rising soon. Kali will come for me. I’d prefer she doesn’t find me here.” He didn’t want even Stiles’ corpse to be there when he died, even though he was keeping his last promise to her, following her into death. Lydia shook her head. 

“You should be here when she wakes up!” Derek felt a tear fall from his eyes. 

“We both know that’s not going to happen. I’m going to keep my last promise to her.” He squeezed his mate’s limp hand tight for a moment. She was so cold it was hard to believe she’d once been the warmest thing in his life. He couldn’t pull her from the now ice free tepid water, not without taking away the miniscule chance that he was wrong. So instead he pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her pale knuckle. Then without another word he left the office, making no sound, leaving like the ghost he felt like. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stiles felt her eyes snap open as the world around her righted from where she’d been, the Nematon, it had been there since the beginning. She sat bolt upright spewing water from her lungs as she heard two others doing the same, assuring her that Scott and Allison had both made it back as well. They babbled for a moment, that the Nematon had been there from the beginning. That it had connected them all since the night Scott was bitten. But as she climbed out of the tub, shaking slightly as Lydia wrapped her in a towel and fussed she looked around and noticed that someone was missing. 

“Wait where’s Derek?” Lydia went stiff. 

“He left half an hour ago.” Stiles felt her mouth go sour with a bitterness she’d never felt before. Then the rest of her sentence bleed through the wall of water in Stiles’ ears. 

“Half an hour? How long have we been under?” Deaton stepped forwards and handed Scott a blanket. 

“Sixteen hours. The full moon rises in four.” The three recently dead sacrifices all swore in unison. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stiles knew that it was foolish to be upset, that it was smarter to let Ethan and Lydia go after Derek but the fact that he hadn’t waited burned her as she slammed her way back into her jeep, her dad’s socks and a shirt of his tossed into her passenger seat. She set her car into gear and sped off down the road not caring about the storm brewing overhead, at least not until a falling branch nearly tore through her windshield. She glanced over her shoulder and regretted it immediately as she felt the wheel move under her hand her jeep swerving off of the road in the storm. She screamed as she saw the tree and tried to slam on the breaks. But it was too late. Her jeep slammed into the tree and the motion jerked her forwards her head slamming into the wheel hard before bouncing her back into her seat. She tried to sit up but her world spun and she slumped in her seat as she felt blood leak down her face. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Derek couldn’t believe his luck. He could hear Stiles on the phone with Scott now. Asking him to bring a ladder when they came to rescue them. Derek snatched a sturdy looking ladder from the side wall. He and Scott took off. The ground around the familiar tree stump was partially caved in but Derek didn’t care he leapt over to one of the largest holes in the ground and lowered the ladder into it. He could smell blood and that set his wolf on edge he scaled down the ladder as fast as he could. He spotted her before he saw anyone else in the room. But all he saw, all he really cared about was her. He rushed forwards and pulled her out from under the low ceiling. She brought her father with her and ushered him up the ladder. Derek hadn’t released her hand. The others slowly made their way out their way slightly hampered by Stiles and Derek. Once everyone was safe Derek gently checked the wound on Stiles’ head it was still bleeding sluggishly. He gently brushed her hair out of her face and stole a touch of her pain. She glared at him. He frowned. 

“Why weren’t you there?” He knew what she meant, he knew that Lydia had been right, that he should have been there when she woke up. He leaned forwards. 

“I thought you weren’t coming back to me. I was… I was going to keep my promise.” Stiles thumped him on the chest. 

“You’re a dumbass.” He smiled. 

“And you’re safe.” He leaned in and began to scent mark her again, covering the faint stench of death with his own. He let his teeth drag over the unmarked skin of her neck, right where it met her shoulder, where he could feel her pulse pound under his tongue. Then the mood was shot in the heart when the Sheriff leaned over the hole in the ground and cleared his throat loudly. Derek jumped back as much as he could. His ears had gone bright red and Stiles wasn’t faring much better. She glared up at her dad, a look that could only translate between the two of them as the Sheriff raised an eyebrow and Stiles rolled her eyes sighing as she began to climb the ladder. She glanced back over her shoulder and smiled warmly at Derek. 

“You coming, Sourwolf?” Derek let a small smile slip onto his face as he began to climb the ladder after her. Maybe now everything would be alright, he thought as Stiles slipped her hand in his. She glanced around, daring anyone to say anything. Her father sighed and threw an arm around her shoulder as they all made there way away from the large broken tree stump, all trying to get their story straight, Jennifer would take the fall for all of this. It was all her fault anyway, and the dead could not defend themselves. Derek was just happy the pack, Scott’s now he realized as the new made True Alpha slipped easily to the head of the group, was alive and well. He had to leave Stiles at her broken Jeep but she was with her father, safe for the moment. And they still had to talk about everything between them, those things that had gone unspoken for far too long. 

But they would have time for that later. For the moment he was content to pull her hand to his mouth, gently and lay a soft kiss to the back of her hand. The bright red blush on her cheeks made up for her fathers examining glare. He glanced back at her as he and Scott left to deal with Deucalion and Jennifer’s body. Scott sighed and glanced at Derek. 

“You really like her huh?” Derek sighed. 

“It’s a little more complicated than that but yes. I do.” He was surprised it was so easy to submit to Scott, to tell him what he’d been fighting against for so long. Scott smiled. 

“You better treat her right, or I’m gonna rip your throat out with my teeth.” Derek laughed as they headed back into the brewery.


	16. Childlike Behavior: Derek

Derek watched as Lydia snuggled the small child to her. The redhead had arrived not ten minutes ago and had fallen in love with the tiny version of their friend as the tiny brunette babbled about how pretty she was. Derek couldn’t help the growl. Scott pulled him aside. 

“Derek we need to talk.” Derek was loathe to leave Stiles alone but the rest of the pack was there she would be fine, right? Scott pulled him into the other room. 

“What’s going on with you? You told me you had the witch handled, that she wasn’t going to be a problem. Now Stiles is three! Three years old! And not even Deaton knows how to handle it.” Derek shook his head. 

“It was handled, but she made me an offer and I refused, she took it as an insult, which it wasn’t meant as by the way.” Scott rolled his eyes. 

“I knew I should have sent Stiles.” Derek full out growled. Scott raised an eyebrow. 

“See there you go again! Ever since the thing with the darach you’ve been weird when it comes to Stiles. And whatever is going on with you is now putting her in danger.” Derek deflated. “The witch said something to you before she disappeared. What was it?” Derek sighed. 

“When you can prove you treasure what you’ve lost the spell will break. That’s what she said, god knows what she meant.” A dry laugh sounded from the doorway Derek looked up at Lydia. 

“You’re really just not gonna say it are you?” Scott raised an eyebrow. Lydia sighed looking down at her nails. 

“Say what exactly?” Scott asked staring at Derek.

“What he hasn’t admitted since you, Stiles and Allison died to find the Nematon.” Derek flinched violently. Scott frowned. That whole experience had been disastrous, the three of them were supposed to have spent a few minutes at deaths door but instead they’d spent sixteen hours underwater and woken to find their timetable shrunk to four hours. Scott turned to Derek.

“What is she talking about?” Derek kept his mouth shut for a moment. Then he glanced at Lydia. 

“Where’s Stiles?” Lydia rolled her eyes. 

“She was getting fussy, Allison is putting her down for a nap.” Derek didn’t relax. Scott’s eyes flashed red. 

“Derek you need to tell me what’s going on. She’s my best friend!” Derek felt his wolf rise in rebellion. 

“And she’s my Mate!” He regretted the words the second they were out of his mouth. Scott blinked at him. 

“What does that mean?” Derek rolled his eyes. Sometimes he forgot that Mr. True Alpha didn’t actually know what he was doing, mostly because Stiles was so good at picking up the slack. Lydia rolled her eyes. 

“Seriously you fail at being a wolf.” Derek sighed. 

“A Mate is what it sounds like, a soulmate. Your forever, your always, your everything.” Derek glanced over Lydia’s shoulder towards where Stiles was. Scott stared at him. 

“So she’s your…?” Derek nodded looking down at his shoes. Scott shook his head. “Then why haven’t you done anything about it? It’s been a few months since we beat the Darach.” Derek never looked up.

“She’s too young… she’s too… perfect. Far too good for someone like me. And she doesn’t even play for my team.” He flinched as something slapped him across the face. The smell of acetone and graveyards told him who it was but both werewolves were staring at Lydia like she’d grown a second head. She checked her nails.

“You’re a god damn idiot Derek Hale. If you can’t see that girl is head over feet for you you’re blind, deaf and stupid.” Derek stared at her. 

“What do you mean?” Lydia rolled her eyes. 

“I mean she looks at you like she used to look at me. Stiles is about as straight as a waterslide but that doesn’t mean she can’t like boys.” Derek blinked at her. 

“Really?” Lydia nodded. 

“I don’t know if she’s Bi or Pan but the way she stares at you when you don’t have a shirt on she’s into both.” Derek blinked at Lydia a bright spark of hope igniting around his heart. Scott threw up his hands. 

“Ok as weird as this conversation has turned, this does nothing to fix our current problem.” A sharp scream sounded from the other room and the three of them raced into the room. A bright orange smoke was pouring from the bench in the waiting room. A figure appeared in the smoke, the same witch from earlier that night. She ran a hand through the hair of the sleeping toddler who was wrapped in a blanket from Allison’s car. She held up a finger in front of her lips as the pack growled at her. Allison had a pistol in her hand, she wasn’t pointing it though, she couldn’t be sure that she would hit the witch and not hurt Stiles. 

“You’re close. Most of the way there. But not quite yet Derek.” Derek howled.

“Take your hands off her!” The witch smiled but didn’t take her hand away. 

“Only when you admit it, out loud in front of her.” Derek snarled as the witch picked Stiles up the girl barely stirring. 

“Put her down now.” The witch grinned. 

“Awww Derek, come on. As much fun as her father might have raising his daughter again, I doubt she’ll enjoy going through puberty twice. Just say the words, in front of your pack. In front of her, that’s all it takes.” Derek growled. 

“What do you want me to say? That I can’t stop thinking about her? That I have been noticing her scent since she and Scott were looking for Scott’s inhaler on the preserve? That every time she’s around I want to scent mark her until everyone on Earth knows she’s mine, wolf or not!?” The pack blinked at him, Lydia was grinning slightly from her spot behind Jackson. But her smile was nothing compared to the smirk on the witch’s face. 

“That is exactly what I wanted to hear.” Orange smoke billowed around her and filled the room. 

 

The werewolves hacked and coughed as the smoke began to dissipate. Lydia had stumbled outside with Allison trying to catch their breath. Derek lunged forwards through his coughing trying to find the bench through the smoke in his lungs. The smoke blew away and he spotted the bench and more importantly the girl on it. Well no not a girl anymore, a woman. He breathed out as the familiar spikey hair moved slightly as she shook her head gathering the blanket around her. 

“Derek? Why am I not wearing pants?” Derek looked away from her his ears going red. Erica rushed forwards and bundled Stiles out of the vets office into Lydia’s car. Derek leaned his head on the doorframe as the car peeled out of the parking lot. The girls all heading back to Stiles’ house to let her dad know she was alright and to find her some pants. Scott spoke from behind him. 

“I don’t get it, Stiles wasn’t even awake for what you said, which by the way really? Since the day you gave me back my inhaler?” Derek shrugged. Deaton seemed to have a theory though.

“She wanted you to admit it to yourself. She wanted to have sex with you yes?” Derek nodded. Scott glanced at him. “When you refused she was insulted?” Another nod. “That’s why she attacked.” This time all of them nodded. 

“When she figured out that Stiles is your Mate how did she react.” Scott spoke up for Derek. 

“She seemed a bit more calm then when she was throwing fireballs at us. Like something made sense.” Derek nodded and cut in.

“Then she figured out I hadn’t told Stiles. She seemed upset.” Deaton nodded. 

“That makes sense. Mates are rare Derek, nearly as rare as True Alphas or the ability to shift into a full wolf. To not tell someone when you know you’ve found them it’s cruel.” Boyd and Isaac nodded. 

“He’s right.”

“You’ve admitted it to us, now you need to tell her.” Derek stared down at his feet. 

“Maybe I do.”


	17. Out In The Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Careful this one's a bit risque. May do a second chapter of this one but only if people ask me to.

Stiles had never been one of those girls who were invited to every party and event. That was much more of a Lydia thing, the redhead was the one throwing the parties and leading the charge into clubs most of the time. Stiles had always spent her time playing video games or reading up on random things she found interesting in that moment. She was never really invited to parties, except when they were inevitably doomed. Heather’s party had ended with the poor girl kidnapped by the Darach to be thrice killed later that night, then there was Lydia’s birthday where she’d poisoned nearly the entire class with wolfsbane. Most had just had a particularly bad hangover for the next few days but anyone with any supernatural inkling had been subjected to awful hallucinations. Stiles had seen her father, drunk and shouting that she was a waste of space, that she’d killed her mother and that she was killing him. Needless to say she wasn’t a huge fan of parties. Clubs weren’t as bad. Jungle had of course been a bit of a disaster, with Jackson the Lizard tearing up the dance floor and temporarily paralyzing six people before they’d managed to catch him. 

Still she much preferred a pair of well worn sweat pants to heels and tights. So one Friday in summer she was lounging in her house playing Overwatch and stuffing chips into her face. She had just finished a match when her doorbell rang. She frowned pulling off her headset and grabbing her baseball bat. She wasn’t expecting anyone today. Allison and Scott had a date planned, Derek didn’t come by unless there was an emergency or he wanted information. Isaac was a possibility he tended to show up on her doorstep when Derek was being the emotionally constipated Alpha he was, or at least had been. He wasn’t an Alpha anymore, but he was still the most experienced of them when it came to the supernatural. Well except for Peter who was most of the reason for the precaution of the bat. Erica and Boyd didn’t do doorbells, besides after everything with the Alpha pack she’d given them keys. Her father didn’t mind them coming and going as they pleased, knowing that they both had less than stellar home lives and a furry toothy secret. So she couldn’t really guess who was ringing her doorbell. She peeked through the peephole and blinked double checking just in case. She set down her bat and ran a hand through her hair before opening the door.

“Lydia, what can I help you with you beautiful, but scary kind of human?” Lydia pulled a face at her, but there was no real anger there. The redhead was holding a large duffel bag. Stiles blinked at her. “Please tell me there’s not a body in there. Not that I wouldn’t hide a body for you but if we get blood on the carpets again my dad will kill me.” Lydia let out a laugh at that. 

“You haven’t checked your phone in the past few hours have you?” Stiles shook her head, stepping back and letting Lydia into the house. 

“No I have been busy splattering brains as Widowmaker.” Lydia shook her head and dumped the bag onto the couch pulling out her phone and swiping in her password. She smiled as she read out the message on the screen. 

“ ‘Mandatory pack meeting tonight. Jackson’s choice this week.’” Stiles rolled her eyes. Last time Jackson had picked they’d gone to the latest horror flick in hopes of scaring Stiles, the joke was on him. Not only was the movie bad but Stiles ended up loving it and pirating the whole series, making them sit through an awful cheesy horror marathon next time she got to pick their activity. Lydia clicked her phone back off slipping it back into her pocket. “He picked Jungle this time. So I’m here to help you. Cause tonight you’re going to turn every head. I will get you laid if it kills me.” Stiles let out a belt of laughter as Lydia grabbed the bag and dragged Stiles up to her room. 

The redhead wasted no time in dumping the bag on Stiles’ bed. It turned out to be full of haircare products, bags upon bags of makeup. Lydia gently shoved Stiles towards the shower. 

“Go on! Get washed up, then we’ll do a face mask. But I have to go get our options from the car.” Stiles raised an eyebrow. 

“Options?” Lydia grinned and tossed Stiles’ bathrobe at her face and shooed her on her way. Stiles rolled her eyes and did as she was instructed. Twenty minutes later Lydia had both of them lounging in face masks that Stiles swore were more expensive than her laptop. Lydia was doing their nails as they waited for the masks to dry. She did her own a deep midnight blue and Stiles got a scarlet that sparkled when the light hit it. When Lydia deemed them ready she laid out four dresses on the bed, having moved the makeup and hair-care to Stiles’ desk. She held up a dress at Stiles and smiled. 

“Perfect.” She shoved it at Stiles who blinked. 

“Thought you said I had options.” Lydia rolled her eyes. 

“No I said I brought options, never said they were for you.” Stiles blinked at the dress. She had to admit it was beautiful. She sighed and took it from Lydia. 

“Well I guess I’ll trust the smartest person I know.” Lydia grinned wolfishly and patted Stiles on the head. 

“Good girl, now hurry up we still have to do your hair and makeup.” Stiles rolled her eyes and began to change. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Derek was going to murder Jackson. He was going to slit his throat and then tear him in half and leave him in the woods for mountain lions. He couldn’t believe that he was forcing them all to go to his best friends favorite club on pack night. At least most of them picked something everyone tolerated. But still since he was technically just Scott’s beta now he did as he was asked and even dressed nicely, leaving the leather jacket at home he dressed in a tight black Hennelly and tight grey jeans. He waited outside Jungle with the other. Stiles and Lydia were running late. Erica was grouching about it to Boyd who was doing his best not to growl at anyone who stared at his girlfriends cleavage, very much on display in the corset that nearly had enough fabric to be called a top. Allison had gone for something much more low key, a simple grey dress and flats. Scott stuck to his usual look, a slightly nice t shirt and jeans. Derek caught a whiff of Stiles’ scent before the others did and turned towards where she was coming from. He blinked as he spotted them. His wolf howled in approval. He’d never seen Stiles in a dress before. 

She was wearing a red number that hit her just above her knees. A flash of skin was visible at her side, making him wonder if she was even wearing a bra at all. His mouth went dry at the thought and he felt his wolf prowling in the back of his mind demanding that they pick her up and carry her back to his den and take her over and over again in the dress then shred the damn thing. He managed to suppress the wolf but just barely as Lydia grinned at him her smile rivaling any of the wolves present. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Stiles though, even with Erica wolf whistling behind him. Stiles walked up to him, a bit awkwardly due to the heels Lydia had seen fit for her to wear. 

“I know I look weird in a dress but you don’t have to stare.” She made to walk past him but he caught her bare arm, the gold bangles on her wrist jangling. 

“You… You don’t look weird. You look…” He couldn’t find the word. Spectacular, sexy, amazing. He floundered for a moment but settled on a word. “nice.” Stiles rolled her eyes at him and his wolf whimpered. She had to know that he thought she was the most beautiful thing on this world. He brushed his hand against the fake rose in her hair. 

“I’m serious Stiles you look beautiful.” Blood rushed to her cheeks as Scott rolled his eyes behind them, wrapping his arms around Allison. Jackson nodded approvingly and Isaac threw an arm around Erica and Boyd. Each of them were waiting to see who would lean in first, finally break the tension that had been building between them for such a long time. But before they could Danny came around the corner, whiskey on his breath and Ethan on his arm. He grinned as Derek and Stiles sprang apart. The Pack glared at him and he smiled sheepishly. Erica grabbed Stiles and pulled her towards the door.

“Come on, lets get out onto the dance floor.” Derek stared after her, his wolf growling at Danny as Lydia chewed the boy out behind him.


	18. Out In The Club 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this one has some more raunchy attitudes than the other chapters. Nothing explicit and nothing really happens but it is much more adult in theme so... you've been warned.

Derek didn’t know what he hated more, the pounding music, the shouting and hooting of the crowd or the dancing. A flash of red caught his eye and he decided on the spot that it was definitely the dancing he hated most. He tried to turn away but he couldn’t as the red of her dress spun in his peripheral vision. He glanced her way and nearly let out a full on howl, just managing to catch himself. She was dancing with Erica and Lydia. Scott and Allison were behind them and Isaac had found that he fit very well between Boyd and the girls. Danny and Ethan had disappeared after Lydia had finished chewing them out for their interruption. He could practically hear Jackson’s smirk as the Beta stepped up to him an illicitly acquired beer in his hand. None of the Betas save him were old enough to drink but alcohol didn’t really do much for wolves unless it was in quantities that would kill a normal human. So, he didn’t really care one way or the other. Stiles though, the smell of whatever she had been drinking was wrong on her breath. Heavy and sour, the fruity smell of the mixer the bartender was using barely covering it. 

“You know I doubt she would say no to a dance if you got your head out of your ass.” Derek flashed his eyes at the other Beta who grinned and took a long drink of his beer. “I’m just saying that she would climb you like a tree if you ever gave her the chance.” Derek growled, low in his chest even as his wolf howled with want, hoping against hope that Jackson was right.

“Don’t talk about her like that. Ever.” Jackson shrugged in defeat, his insufferable smirk still in place as he glanced at the table where Derek was leaning.

“What are you doing anyway?” 

“I’m on drink watch, Erica’s idea.” Jackson nodded. It was smart. Though few people here would dare it given Jungle’s history of shutting down for long stretches of time when incidents like that happened but it was better safe than sorry. Jackson set down his beer and made his way into the crowd of dancers to sweep Lydia off her feet. Laughter echoed from the small group the pack had formed as Stiles broke off from them and stumbled her way over to their table. She grinned at Derek and he felt his eyes flash before he could stop it. She was glistening with sweat and glitter someone she’d been dancing near had rubbed off on her. She was grinning from ear to ear until she saw the blue in Derek’s eyes. She blinked at that and stepped back, or at least she would have but he hadn’t let go of her arm. She blinked at him for another moment before she giggled and he caught the smell of alcohol on her again and let go like he’d been burned. 

It wouldn’t be right. He couldn’t take advantage of her. He wouldn’t take advantage of her. Never. If he made his move he would do it when she was sober, dressed the way she was comfortable, doing something adorable, like laughing at Isaac and Jackson acting like idiots or smiling at Erica and Boyd. He wouldn’t have there being a misunderstanding here, not between them. He wouldn’t have her thinking that he was only interested in her because Lydia had worked her special kind of magic and made her shine to the rest of the world. She would always be a star to him, even covered in blood or monster gut, or throwing popcorn at Scott during movie night. She stepped over to her drink and downed it and let out a small belch and turned towards the bar.

“I need another drink.” Before he could offer to get it for her she was disappearing into the crowd. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Stiles found her way to the bar and sighed as she set her empty glass down and waved at the bartender. He ignored her. They did this a lot, they knew she was the sheriff’s daughter and that serving her was likely a bad idea. Isaac had had to get her last drink. She rolled her eyes and grumbled as the bartender served a blonde at the other end of the bar. 

“Not the best service here huh?” Stiles jumped, glancing up at the woman who had stepped up behind her, accompanied by a man who grinned at Stiles. If she hadn’t known better, she would have said another beautiful woman had swept off with Derek. The man looked very much like him but the eyes were wrong, not quite the same shade of green, and he was taller. She hadn’t thought that was possible. The woman looked like she could be Lydia’s sister, but she was dressed in a tiny black dress and leather jacket, boots that hit her mid thigh and looked like they were painted on. Stiles was nearly certain that the two of them had walked out of one of her more raunchy fantasies as the woman flagged down the bartender and ordered two drinks before turning to Stiles again. 

“And for you pretty lady?” The smile was nearly blinding and the eyes were, though off like the mans, beyond beautiful. Stiles stuttered out her order and the bartender nodded. He’d let other people buy her drinks, then he wasn’t directly responsible. He made their drinks quickly and wandered off to another patron. The woman smiled and handed Stiles her drink. It was something the Drag Queens she’d befriended on her first trip to Jungle had introduced her to. One of them caught her eye now and winked at her eyeing up the two who had bought her drink and shooting her an approving smile. She blushed taking a long drink. She missed the look that passed between the pair in front of her as she pulled a face at the slightly salty aftertaste. The woman grinned at her. 

“So pretty lady what’s your name?” Stiles was still blushing.

“Stiles.” The woman let out a musical laugh the man looking her over steadily. 

“That can’t be your real name.” Stiles rolled her eyes. No one ever believed her, with good reason but still. 

“I mean my real name is impossible to pronounce unless you happen to speak polish.” The man grinned wide.

“Sadly neither of us do. But I like Stiles. It’s a fun name.” The blush burning at her cheeks had spread to her ears as she took another drink. The woman downed her drink, the man followed suit. 

“So Stiles would you like to dance with us?” Stiles blinked at them. 

“So you two aren’t together?” The man shook his head, holding out his hand to her. 

“No, but we do like to share.” Stiles blinked again, and glanced at the table where Derek was just visible over the crowd. Lydia and Jackson were grinding with Isaac, Scott and Allison had disappeared and Boyd and Erica were so wrapped up in each other that she couldn’t tell where one started and the other ended. Derek looked away from her the instant he caught her eyes. Her eyes narrowed and she downed the rest of her drink. She took the mans hand and spotted triumph sparkling in the woman’s eyes as she followed them onto the dance floor where they sandwiched Stiles between them. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The first sign Derek caught of trouble was a slight smell of salt on the air. He stiffened. Salt in a club was not a good thing. There was a difference between this kind of salty and the kind they used for margaritas. This salty smell was much more chemically, the smell of a drug. Not the stench of weed from the back alley but something that could be much more dangerous. He looked around trying to locate the smell. His heart froze over as he spotted Stiles, who was only two drinks in and shouldn’t be in too bad of a condition, wobbling in the arms of a man he didn’t recognize. The man had tawny hair and freckles, so did the woman who was whispering into Stiles’ ear. They could have been twins if it wasn’t for the dress and the woman’s much longer hair. But the woman was leading Stiles away from the dancefloor towards the door. Derek let out a low growl and abandoned his post by the drinks, easily parting the crowd with his glare and rushed after them. 

He rounded the corner into the alley after them and let a full out growl as the scent of the two unfamiliar people hit him for the first time. The scents in the club were good for covering things like this up. They weren’t human, their eyes flashed bright pink at him as Stiles blinked, eyes glassy and unfocused, the salt on her breath telling him that one of these bastards had slipped something into her drink. They were going to die for that. He growled at them letting his eyes flash bright blue and stay that way. There was no one back here anyway, just the four of them. The woman laughed. 

“So is one of the big bad wolves here to save little red? Or does he want to share her too?” The woman ran her hand through Stiles’ hair and Derek howled. It wasn’t a call to the other members of the pack though it would call them to him, it was a challenge at these creatures for ever daring to touch Stiles. The man stepped forwards. 

“Oh, feisty! But I doubt he’s ever met one of us before. Come on little wolf, we could have so much fun the four of us.” There was an edge to the mans voice that sounded musical but was lost on Derek’s ears as the woman ran her lips over Stiles’ throat. Derek lunged forwards and batted the man aside as the rest of the pack skidded into the alleyway. The male was out cold but the female still had Stiles in her grip, she was looking much more than surprised though as Derek shifted and snarled. She blinked at him for a moment backing away, still holding Stiles.

“You shouldn’t have been able to do that. Not even wolves can resist us! If she couldn’t you shouldn’t be able to! She’s Fae and she still couldn’t fight it!” Derek snarled shutting the woman up.

“Let. Her. Go.” It wasn’t a request. It was a command plain and simple and the woman’s eyes flashed pink again as she seemed to be considering her options. She seemed to decide that keeping ahold of her prey was much more dangerous than it was worth the risk and shoved Stiles in Derek’s direction before making a break for it down the alley. Derek lunged forwards and caught her easily as she stumbled. The rest of the pack raced after the woman, Derek was pretty sure he’d cracked the mans skull on the wall, but he wasn’t sure that would be enough to kill him. Stiles blinked at him for a full minute before she recognized him. 

“Sourwolf!” She threw her arms around his neck and buried her head there as his wolf purred in approval. Scott rounded the corner as he carefully picked Stiles up, not disturbing her where she was muttering into his skin, he couldn’t quite make out what she was saying even with his enhanced ears. Scott growled at the sight of Stiles looking so completely out of it. Stiles flopped her head backwards and grinned at Scott. 

“Scotty! Buddy! Der… he’s pretty! Pretty and scary and sexy! He’s smart too! Smart, scary, sexywolf.” A loud snort from the end of the alley told Derek the rest of the pack had heard her too. Scott glanced up at him.

“What did they do to her? She smells wrong.” Derek nodded, not putting her down. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t have let him put her down even if he’d wanted to, which he didn’t. 

“Drugged. Not sure what with.” Scott growled and Stiles giggled before mimicking the sound, sounding like a puppy trying to bark for the first time. Erica was howling with laughter by now as they bundled the unconscious man and woman into Jackson’s car.

“What are they Derek?” Stiles spoke up before he could say anything. 

“Sexy! Sexy Derek and Lydia clones! Scotty! They could be twins!” Scott frowned. 

“They didn’t look like Derek or Lydia, they looked like Allison and Isaac.” Derek held back a laugh at that revelation but spoke above Stiles’ babble.

“Amoreia. They’re a kind of Love Demon. They feed on emotions, and change depending on the person looking at them. They usually travel in pairs cause it’s easier to hunt that way. If their target likes women better the girl takes them and once they have them worn down they share.” Scott growled at the thought of something like that happening to Stiles who giggled and growled at him again. Derek let a playful growl slip through his own lips to distract her from Scott. Stiles lit up with a smile and growled playfully back at him. Scott shook his head at the pair and cleared his throat. 

“We should get her to Deaton, make sure she’s alright.” Derek nodded and bundled her into the Camaro, tossing Boyd his keys. Boyd drove them to the vet who had a rather difficult time examining Stiles who refused to let Derek set her down.

“You were lucky Derek noticed them leaving with you Stiles. This could have gone very differently.” Scott growled slightly, Stiles was expounding on how much Derek’s eyes looked like fresh moss in the forest. 

“What would have happened if he hadn’t?” Deaton frowned. 

“We would have found her a few days from now, a husk. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve hidden a body in the preserve. Though if they just got to town we may have gotten lucky. They likely decided that Stiles was a good target because she’s a Fae Born. They could have fed off her for a few days. As to what they dosed her with, standard stuff. Rohypnol.” Derek growled and Scott’s eyes flashed red. 

“They roofied her?” Deaton nodded. 

“Likely to keep her from using her powers against them. She could have taken them on her own, if she wasn’t drugged.” Scott nodded. 

“And we can’t take her home like this. Her dad will throw a fit.” Before Scott could begin to offer any ideas Derek spoke. 

“She can stay at the loft, as long as she needs. I’ll make sure she’s safe.” Scott nodded, a slight smile on his face. 

“I know you will. Thanks Derek. We’ll run these two out of town and make sure they don’t come back.” 

As the rest of the pack watched Derek drive away with Stiles who had fallen asleep, snoring loudly Isaac pouted. 

“So much for getting them both laid, preferably by each other, tonight.” The others around him nodded as Scott rolled his eyes. He’d known about the plan but hadn’t had a hand in it. 

“Don’t worry puppy.” Lydia patted Isaac on the head. “We’ll get them together. I wont stop till we do.” Isaac grinned as they drove the still unconscious Amoreia out of town. They wouldn’t be coming back, they knew now that Beacon Hills was off limits.


	19. Trapped

Lydia woke up first, her head pounding. She groaned and rubbed her head, panic filling her stomach as she felt a patch of blood on her face. It took her a moment to open her eyes but when she managed it she cussed loudly. She was in an earthen basement, locked in a small room. But luckily for her she wasn’t alone. Stiles lay across the room from her splayed out on the floor, a similar injury to the one Lydia had just visible on the side of her head. Lydia made to run to her friend but was caught by the chain around her ankle. She swore louder and this time it jolted Stiles awake. She groaned and rubbed her head looking up from her position on the floor. 

“Lydia?” She looked around for another moment. “This is not how I would have liked to wake up with you.” Lydia snorted at her joke. The redhead knew that Stiles had given up pursuing her a while ago, about the same time a tall muscular werewolf had clawed his way into the girls heart. Slowly Stiles sat up still rubbing her head. “How did we get here?” 

“No idea.” Lydia shook her head. The door banged open making both girls flinch slightly as the sound aggravated their pounding heads. A tall scarred man stood in the doorway smiling sinisterly. 

“I see our guests are awake. Excellent. Your little mutts should realize you’re gone soon. Then they’ll be walking right into our trap.” The man grinned at the horrified looks on their faces as the girls realized what he was. He was a werewolf hunter and he was using them as bait. Stiles was the first one to snap out of her shock. 

“I get it. You took the two human pack members to lure them in. It’s not going to work.” The man laughed. 

“Your smarter than most werewolves’ bitches. Then again you haven’t been bitten yet so you still might be redeemable. Next time I come to see you your little puppies will be gone, so enjoy your time here.” He laughed loudly as he closed the door behind him and Lydia began to yank on the chain around her ankle. Stiles was a bit calmer though. She scooted closer to the wall and took a deep breath sitting with her legs crossed. The floor of their cell was earthen and Lydia watched in confusion as Stiles began to draw runes Lydia didn’t recognize into the dirt. Once she was done she held her hand over the runes an spoke so low that Lydia, a few feet away from her couldn’t make out what she was saying. Then she reached into the runes and the floor and drew out a familiar baseball bat. It was the same metal bat she’d used to save her father, Allison, her father and Isaac from the crumbling ceiling of the cellar under the Nematon. Once she had drawn the bat all the way out of the ground she sighed and swiped her hands through the runes erasing them. The she spit into the dirt in front of her a few times. Before Lydia could ask what she was doing she stirred the dirt with her spit until she had a tiny patch of mud. She dipped her finger in it and shifted so her chained foot was in front of her. She drew on the cuff, again in strange runes that Lydia didn’t recognize. The cuff snapped open and Lydia grinned at Stiles. She had antagonized the hunter to find out if he knew that neither of them were exactly human. 

Stiles stood and stretched slightly before dipping her finger back into the mud she’d made and motioning for Lydia to stick her leg out. She complied trying not to clink the chain any more than she had to. Stiles drew the same runes and this time Lydia saw her eyes flash bright purple and heard her speak but the language wasn’t one she was familiar with. It almost sounded Celtic but there was something older about it. Her cuff snapped off too and for just a moment Lydia thought she saw a change in Stiles. A shifting around the ears, almost pulling the tips to points but it was gone a moment after it happened.  
Stiles put a finger to her lips and motioned to the door. She jiggled the handle and frowned. The man had locked it behind himself. She sighed and stepped back over to where she’d been chained up and spit into the dirt again.

“As cool as what you can do is, that’s nasty.” Stiles rolled her eyes at Lydia as she dipped her finger into the mud again. She stepped back over to the door and drew large rune on it. 

“This is gonna be loud. No choice to it. May wanna cover your ears.” Lydia nodded and slapped her hands against her ears. Stiles nodded and spoke in that language again and slammed her hand into the rune as her eyes flashed bright purple again. The door went flying off its hinges and into the room across from theirs. Stiles darted across the hall as a whimper sounded from the room opposite theirs. She swore lowly at what she found. A small boy was chained up in the room blood staining the earthen floor. He whimpered at the sight of them. Stiles handed Lydia her bat and dipped her finger in the blood soaked earth drawing the runes on the wolfs restraints. His whimpers paused when her eyes flashed purple and the restraints snapped off. He stared at her for a moment before hugging her and latching on. She hugged him back and patted his head, he didn’t look in any shape to be fighting so she spoke quickly. 

“Hi. I’m Stiles, this is Lydia. We’re gonna get you out of here, but you need to stick with Lydia, I gotta wield the bat ok? What’s your name?” He looked up at her for a second then nodded, latching onto Lydia instead. He muttered into her side as she ran a gentle hand through his hair. 

“His name is Ryan.” Stiles nodded and took the bat back from Lydia. 

“Excellent, we’re gonna get you out of here Ryan.” Stiles led the way down the hall, easily striking down several hunters that came their way. She kept listening at the doors but didn’t seem to find what she was looking for. They kept on and up Lydia realized until Stiles stopped in the shadow of a doorway and motioned for silence.

“Tom and Frank should have been back by now.” It was the man from before. Someone else in the room, a woman this time, snorted. 

“They’ll be fine. All they have to deal with is a few humans and one eight year old wolf. And we’ll break him soon enough, then head back to Nevada and clean out his pack.” The boy whimpered. Stiles had guessed something like that was happening. She crouched down and sunk her fingers into the dirt. This time she didn’t need to say anything. She could feel everyone standing in the room. She reached out with her powers and let them creep up the legs of the hunters. Shouting sounded from the other room. Expletives that no child should hear echoed out of the room. Lydia put her hands over Ryan’s ears and all three of them froze as they heard a door hit the ground. Stiles pulled her hand out of the dirt and peeked around the corner. Before any of them could act a large figure in a ripped blue Henley bounded around the corner. Ryan growled in surprise his eyes flashing gold. There was the sound of a brief struggle in the other room as Derek checked over Stiles growling in anger at the blood on her face. He gently cupped her cheek and stole some of her pain. Ryan calmed down at the sight. Derek glanced over at Lydia and froze. 

“We found him in the cell across from ours. Overheard that he’s from Nevada. We need to get him home.” Derek nodded kneeling down in front of the boy. 

“My name is Derek Hale. What’s yours?” The boy hid slightly behind Lydia’s leg. 

“I’m Ryan Sinclair.” Derek nodded standing back up. 

“I know the Sinclair pack. I’ll make a few calls.” He gently handed Stiles her phone out of his pocket and held her hand for just a minute longer than he needed to. “Call your dad, he can come pick up these kidnapping dirtbags.” It looked like Derek wanted to call them something worse than that but couldn’t bring himself to in front of a small child. Ryan perked up at that.

“You know my pack.” Derek nodded. 

“Yes and we’re gonna get you back to them as soon as possible.” At that Ryan ran forwards into Derek’s legs. Derek looked taken aback for a second then he smiled and scooped the child up. Stiles felt ready to melt on the spot it was too adorable. Ryan reached out to her and she caught his hand. 

“Can she come too?” Derek smiled at Stiles and she grinned wide at him. 

“Of course she can. She’s pack too.” Ryan grinned and scrambled down from Derek’s arms grabbing his hand in one hand and Stiles’ hand in the othe. He let them walk him out into the main area of the warehouse then. All the hunters were unconscious, feet stuck to the floor with vines. Erica was pulling them up like weeds and tying them together with Isaac’s help. Jackson ran forwards and scooped Lydia up nuzzling her cheek. Ryan grinned. Scott stepped over to them raising an eyebrow at Ryan. 

“That is a small child.” Stiles rolled her eyes as she swiped through the contacts on her phone one handed. 

“His name is Ryan. Ryan this is Scott, he’s the Alpha.” Ryan cowered slightly at that. Stiles shook her head. “Oh don’t be scared. He’d never hurt you. Just the bad guys.” Ryan relaxed slightly at that as Stiles hit call on her phone. It only rang once before her father picked up. 

“Stiles!” She cut him off. 

“I’m fine dad. We had some trouble with hunters. Here Derek tell him where we are.” She handed the phone over and Derek’s smile slipped a bit. 

“Hello Sheriff. Yes, she’s fine. She broke herself out. Rescued Lydia and someone else too. There’s definitely a missing person’s out for him. Ryan Sinclair. He’s like us, so he’ll be healed before any medical attention could get here. I do know the family. I’m going to get in touch with them as soon as I’m off the phone with you. Yes sir.” He handed the phone back to Stiles. 

“Yep. Can do dad. Not a problem. Love you too. Alright see you in five.” Stiles clicked out of the call and turned to the others. “Get them untied. Erica don’t pout we need to have the rest of the station believe this. Scott, Isaac would you mind putting the doors I blasted back up and whipping the mud off the cuffs?” The two boys nodded and raced back into the warehouse basement. Stiles lead Ryan outside Derek sticking with them. This was one of their fallback plans for when this happened, it had happened before it would likely happen again. Derek would stick around with his car, claiming he’d heard a fight as he was driving around with the window down. He’d stopped to render assistance and here they all were. The others hugged Stiles and Lydia and promised to meet at Stiles’ house when they were done at the station. Ryan looked nervous. Stiles gently squeezed his hand. 

“It’s ok. My dad is the Sheriff. He knows about all of this we’re gonna get you back to your family in no time.” Ryan hugged her tight and she grinned at Derek who was flicking through the contacts on his phone. He found the one he was looking for and dialed the phone. Stiles couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation but she could still hear Derek. 

“Hello, this is Derek Hale of the Beacon Hills Pack. We found Ryan Sinclair. Yes. He’s going to be fine. The father of one of our pack members is the sheriff so we’re gonna get these hunters put away for a long, long time. Yes they’re on their way now. Were gonna stick with him but expect a call from the police department here, in maybe an hour, probably less. You’re welcome Mr. Sinclair. Here why don’t you talk to him.” Derek handed his phone over to Ryan who spoke excitedly into the phone, edging on tears. Stiles looked up at Derek. 

“How do you know them?” Derek’s small smile turned melancholy. 

“Laura and I stayed with them for a few weeks after the fire. At the time they were the closest pack. They were very kind, invited us back any time we wanted to.” Ryan handed Derek back his phone and a moment later Stiles heard sirens round the corner. Ryan slapped his hands over his ears as three police cruisers pulled up to the warehouse. Sheriff Stilinski ran to Stiles as several of the other officers headed inside, guns drawn. Soon the still unconscious kidnappers were cuffed and stripped of weapons and tossed into the backs of two of the cars. Derek, Lydia, Stiles and Ryan piled into Sheriff Stilinski’s car and set off to the station. Lydia had to sit in the front, Ryan refused to let go of either Stiles and Derek. 

They made it to the station with little difficulty and the call was made to Ryan’s parents. Derek knew they were already in the car headed their way. The Sheriff got them to agree to taking Ryan to his house where he Lydia and Stiles could all get some rest in comfort and safety until they arrived. Soon they were bundled into the Sheriff’s cruiser again and they arrived at the house. The rest of the pack was already there. 

They had moved Stiles’ mattress into the living room along with all of her bedding and all the spares they could find. It was going to be a pack pile night, with Lydia, Stiles and Ryan in the middle. Ryan refused to let either Derek or Stiles go so they were squished up together with the boy across their laps when all the wolves perked up at around four in the morning rousing Stiles, Lydia and Allison from a deep sleep. Ryan bounced and pulled a half asleep Stiles and fully alert Derek to the door before anyone even knocked on it. Stiles managed to unlock the door before he ripped it down in his excitement and the boy finally dropped their hands racing out onto the lawn and into the arms of a couple racing their way. Stiles sighed contentedly and leaned against Derek as the Sinclair’s had a family reunion in her front yard. 

“This is beautiful.” She sighed sleepily into Derek’s chest. Derek looked down at her and nodded. 

“Yes.” That was all he could bring himself to say as he wrapped Stiles in a hug, watching the family on the front lawn rejoice at their reunion. It was beautiful.


End file.
